


The Lesser of Two Evils

by LadyDragonHawke



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Season 15 ideas, Angst, Be Careful What You Wish For, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, But it could also be the Beginning, Canon-Typical Violence, Castiel and Dean are basically Brothers, Character Death, Chronic Pain, Depressive Thoughts, End of Season 14, End of the World, Fluff, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, How Do I Tag, Hurt and comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I have answers and I demand questions, I have so much planned for this, I just don't see them that way, I'm A Doctor Not A, I'm Sorry, I'm picky, Implied/Referenced Torture, Judge me not, My take on Season 15, No Destiel, No Sex, No Smut, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Relationships, Season 15, Self-Harm, Self-Sacrifice, Spells & Enchantments, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide, Supernatural Season 15 Speculations, The End, The Real Apocalypse starts now, This is helping me cope with my depression, Ultimate Sacrifice, Undead, Water Balloon Fights, Water Guns, What Have I Done, Whump, Why Did I Write This?, Writer, fight me, mwahahahaha, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2020-10-18 23:35:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 69,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20647562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyDragonHawke/pseuds/LadyDragonHawke
Summary: Picks up immediately after the season 14 finale.A stranger helps TFW with the end of everything, but there's a price to pay, and who is going to pick up the tab?Here's but a taste:Sam stopped stacking the sandwiches and took a few slow steps toward her table to better read her expression.“Rowena, what exactly does your athame alert you for?” Sam asked as slow as molasses, mulling it over in his own mind.“It warns me when a human is about to use it.”There was such a silence that if someone even breathed it felt as if the air would explode. Sam sat in the chair opposite her staring her in her eyes.“When you teleported here, who was holding your athame?”“Jody.”Sam placed a hand on his mouth. The shock of the situation was palpable, leaving them both lost in their own minds as to what this could possibly mean.“We can’t reveal this yet.” Sam finally muttered after a few tense moments.“Can’t? Why? We don’t know who, or what that thing is! And you want to leave it alone for now?” she scream-whispered.“Exactly why we can’t confront this ‘thing’ yet. We don’t know what it is? Could it be Chuck in disguise? We don’t know!”





	1. The Beginning of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *I edited this chapter a bit as some of the sentences didn't flow as well as I wanted.*
> 
> Sam, Dean, and Castiel are surrounded by undead but a familiar face appears to assist them with some news that everyone will certainly have mixed feelings about.  
Chuck uses "phone a friend" but more complicated and the "friend" he calls upon is less than thrilled at being called on at all.  
Billie gains a new pawn?

“What the hell is happening?!” Dean thought as he stabbed his rusted iron fencepost into the nearest zombie and immediately found another one aching for a whack. He tried stabbing the next one in the head through the temple, but it was as if these zombies where hopped up on some drug making them unkillable.  
“Gettin’ em in the dome ain’t doin’ nothin’!” He shouted above the loud groans from the dead.  
“I noticed!” retorted Sam who was doing his best after having been shot in his shoulder.  
“I can try blasting them!” Castiel shouted, his strength was taking a nosedive after having watched his surrogate son get roasted by “Chuck”.  
“Do you even have the juice for that?” Dean exclaimed.  
The reply was a slight groan which gave off a hint of “damn it I’ll do it if it’ll keep both of you alive.” Dean in a fit of anger and slight panic took his rusted “sword” and went on jabbing and stabbing the legs and knees of those zombos around him.  
“Go for the legs!” he shouted as he stabbed two more kneecaps toppling two zombies on top of each other. “Not much of a walker if they can’t walk!”  
Sam and Castiel followed Dean’s lead but the sheer amount of these things piling in one after another was reminiscent of a video game or one of the hundreds of horrible zombie movies that Dean had rather grown fond of. The way some of those movies felt as if the directors went to purgatory and saw the carnage that Dean had seen and decided to make a movie of it. He turned around to find Sam was starting to get a little more than overrun and turned to assist him but before he could make a move, a blinding bright light exploded from where Jack’s body had been. The light engulfed all around them and all Sam and Dean could do was shut their eyes as Castiel braved the light. The zombies were transfixed as the light engulfed them and they turned to dust in an instant. As the light faded Jack stood in the center holding both palms out defensively in front of him toward what was once a mass of dead but alive people. Jack lowered his arms and looked at all three of his fathers.  
“What’d I miss?” his face was showing serious concern as if he hadn’t just died five minutes ago.  
Without missing a beat Castiel rushed over and gave him a hug that shocked Jack but he decided to lean into it. Sam and Dean took to surveying the area ensuring there weren’t going to be any surprises.  
As Castiel hugged him multiple questions were rolling around in his head but there was only one that beat out all the others, “How did you come back?”  
“Billie or uh…Death, um said I had to come back. That she has a plan and she needs all of us.” He wasn’t quite sure of the implications of her words, but she seemed trustworthy, but the look on Deans face made him anxious.  
“I do NOT like the sound of that.” Dean muttered angrily. He had a mind that something was going on when she showed him his shelves upon shelves of ways he would die and wouldn’t take his life when he asked her to. He did not like this one bit, and it showed.  
“Did she say anything of what that plan might be?” inquired Sam, as he tried to cool the situation.  
“Just that she needed all of us alive in order for it to work.”  
“Wonderful!” Dean was less than enthusiastic at the sound of that.” Just what the hell is she planning?” Before he could ask anymore questions the familiar sounds of the groaning of the dead started to fill the air.  
“We can talk about this once we’re back at the Bunker.” Sam tapped Deans’ shoulder as a signal that they should really get the hell out of Dodge. A signal that did not go unnoticed as they all hurried toward Baby and piled in. The undead were starting to come into view in all directions as Baby and all her passengers peeled out of there like a bat out of hell. 

Unbeknownst to them Chuck had watched everything unfold and was growing more anxious by the minute. He stood in place wringing his hands as he thought of any solution he could come up with falling short of just wiping Earth from existence entirely. If there was a way to salvage the situation it was lost on him. He began pacing to cope with the nerves. “Just what is she planning? After all this time and her best idea is to keep the boys alive?! What does that accomplish?! I’m better than this!” He raised a hand to his mouth in a moment of realization. “That could work but… I’ll need a few things first.” Within an instant he was gone and back again holding a few odd items wrapped in an old cloth that made it hard to identify. With a flick of his wrist he burned a transfiguration circle large enough to cover the entire graveyard with him at the center. He snapped his fingers and the hoards of undead that were flooding in disappeared entirely. After taking a deep breath he then painstakingly began placing one item after another along the inside circle.  
An old almost human arm or leg bone that looked broken in half was placed at the north face of the circle.  
Then a jar of liquid that could only be described as congealed blood with a frothy green foam on its surface and a blue mass within it. It glowed iridescently as he placed it at the western face of the circle.  
At the southern face of the circle he placed a golden sphere with intricate designs all over that looked like a rather entertaining puzzle of some sort. After placing it on the ground its parts jolted around as it shot up and levitated a good three feet off the ground before bursting open revealing a small red stone within.  
As he neared the eastern face of the circle to place the last item all the other items levitated into the air and hummed a soothing sound as he placed the final item into its respective spot. He balled up his fist and grunted as he created a tiny star no larger than an orange in the palm of his hand. Chuck was doing his best to keep the gravitational pull from the tiny star from mucking up his current universe. After he got it within a respectable limit of existence without loosing too much of its’ raw power, he slowly walked toward the north face of the circle again. “This better work.” He said to himself as he faced the bone with a look of fear, anxiety and just a twinge of determination. He raised his hand just above the bone and focused as he poured some of his celestial energy into the bone causing it to glow and vibrate with power. The circle in turn also lit up and Chuck turned toward its center as it began to burn up the ground within the inner circle brilliantly.  
“IAODIPAM ODULIPAMIS: DS LOHOLO,” The ground shook as he chanted bringing forth more light from the center which swirled in front of him as it shot to the sky.  
“AAI TA PIAPBALTOH ODVAOAN,” He raised a hand to his brow as the light became almost too much for him.  
“ZACAR CAOD ZAMRAN ODOCICLE,” He closed his eyes, “Only two more.”  
“QAA ZORGE LAP ZIRDO,” A blast of air and light burst from the center and pushed past Chuck and traveled well beyond the limitations of the Earth as all four of the artifacts imploded in on themselves.  
“NOCO MAD HOATH IAIDA!” He finished as a flare even heavier than the last pushed him well past the outermost circle to his hands and knees. He knew others will have felt what he had just done, both human and celestial, and his apprehensions mounted higher as he looked toward the inner circle at what he had just brought into being.  
In a blink he was just outside the inner circle as he looked questionably at the human shaped being at its center. Its rolling mass was shifting between light and dark and although it had the shape of a human its features were far from it. It merely stood in place as it looked all around its’ surroundings taking in everything it could before finally falling on Chuck. Without a beat it took on the shape and form of Chuck then started shifting into a female version. She grew out her hair long with a deep shade of red and her skin was pale, nearly pure white as she started shifting her height to be somewhat shorter or taller than Chuck. It seemed almost like she couldn’t decide how tall to be. Her face was smooth and had no features, but she started first by adapting eyes, not like she really needed them to begin with, but it seemed to please the being in front of her. She went with green irises and gave herself a rather medium shaped nose and plump lips. She figured she shaped herself just well enough as she looked around for any further inspiration. She locked eyes with an angel statue and decided the shape and volume of that body was what suited her tastes. After taking on a form suitable for where she was, she looked back at the being who more and more looked like they were about to scream or cry. They seemed oddly familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what made this being in front of her look so recognizable.  
“ADGT VPAAH ZONG OM FAAIP?” Her voice seemed to boom loudly, and it seemed to shake the being in front of her. She looked at him with confusion as he waved his hand in front of him dismissively.  
“Hang on a minute I’ll uh… transfer, something to you.” He placed a palm outward toward her and within an instant she received all the knowledge and memories he had within. The sheer amount made her head spin for a second and suddenly she started to remember something. Something that she thought she had lost, once it dawned on her she immediately became enraged.  
“You better have a DAMN good reason as to why I’M ALIVE right now!” Her anger shook the very ground beneath them, and Chuck could do nothing but cower before raising himself slowly to show he wasn’t being defiant.  
“I’m sorry…I didn’t know who else to ask.” He lowered his head but kept his eye contact with her to gauge her reaction. “There’s eh…some kind of plan to uh…kill me, and I wanted, no needed some help in trying to…”  
“SO YOU BROUGHT ME BACK?!” She interrupted. Her brow growing darker as she bored a hole through his head with her eyes. “I told you specifically not to, under any circumstances to bring me back. Do you not remember what I had to go through to die in the FIRST place?”  
“Yes…” he replied sheepishly.  
“Get out of my sight.” With her head in her hand she waved her other hand at him and moved to leave the circle.  
“But! I need your help in dealing with Billie! Look I’ll…” He jumped in front of her to stop her and to force her to hear him out. But it was clear she was having none of this.  
“Get. Out. Of. My. Sight. If I so much as sense you on this or any planet within this plane of existence I will do what I should have done those eons ago. Do I make myself clear?” Her voice was low and full of anger and didn’t raise above normal volume, but it was enough to send shivers down Chuck’s spine as with a blink he was gone.  
She sighed heavily “Children.”  
She took a moment to really take in where she was and the circle, she was standing in. “How long was he thinking of this?” She spread her consciousness around the Earth and saw all of what he had changed recently. “Clearly not long enough.” She sighed as she began leaving the circle.  
“Well, well, well, look what the cat brought back from the dead. Even I had no say in this one.” An unfamiliar voice mumbled behind her. As she turned to confront the voice, she was taken aback by the being holding what was supposed to be Death’s scythe.  
“And just who might you be? Not Death?” She asked, almost afraid of the answer.  
“I am, but I go by Billie. Chuck thought if he got one of his pets to kill off the original Death that he would be in the clear. Turns out that didn’t really happen the way he wanted.” The dark being stepped closer to her but not too close as to startle the new being.  
“He always had a problem with taking no for an answer.” She chuckled.  
“What name do they call you?” Billie inquired, disappearing the scythe in a blink in order to make her feel more comfortable.  
“The name I once had doesn’t apply to me much anymore. Call me whatever you wish.”  
Billie paused, taking in a moment to recall her previous name as she knew her, to find a way to incorporate it into a new one. “How about… Kubaba? I didn’t really have the pleasure of meeting you before, but I have heard of you.”  
“Kubaba…” she rolled the name around in her mouth to better feel the sound. In her head she thought of the subtle connection it had with her old name. “tsk…isn’t it a bit too on the nose?”  
“Well…” Billie was growing a bit anxious with this naming thing as it wasn’t really her style. She looked around at all the gravestones surrounding them and came across one that the being was just standing on. “How about Sterling?” The being looked down as she noticed where Billie had gotten the name from.  
“Resourceful, aren’t we?” She chuckled, “Sterling it is then. I quite like it actually.”  
“Now then Sterling, now that we have the naming out of the way I happened to witness the tail end of what transpired between you and Chuck.” Billie started.  
“Chuck…” Sterling snickered, “Why the name Chuck? Trying to fit in with his creations?”  
“I assume. Anyway, I would like to inquire as to where your allegiances lie?” Billie didn’t quite like being so formal, but she couldn’t get a good gauge on the attitude of this Godlike being in front of her.  
“You want to know if I’m willing to kill him.” Sterling snapped back with such seriousness it shocked Billie to her core. “I may have another solution, but…” Sterling trailed off in thought for a moment.  
“But?” Billie was slightly unnerved by Sterling, but she needed answers. This being could upset her whole plan. Having another God on the board was unforeseen, and didn’t quite bode well.  
“They are really not going to like it.” She gazed past Billie as if she wasn’t even there. “Do you know where Amara is?” Sterling snapped back to reality looking deep into Billie’s eyes for answers.  
“No, not at the moment.”  
Sterling let out a groan and started pacing a small line in thought. “I’ll need them both alive, but this’ll be harder than I thought.” She stopped and grabbed Billie by both arms staring her right in her eyes making it impossible for Billie to avert her eyes or to leave her grasp. “You must promise me you will not kill Chuck. Not yet.”  
“I-I promise.” Billie felt herself almost compelled to say it.  
“Good. Now. I’m going to mingle with these creations he so lovingly devoted so much attention to.” Sterling said with a hint of what may possibly be sarcasm, but Billie dared not question it. “What I would like you to do for me in the meantime is search for Amara, her presence if anything should be able to be felt at least.”  
“What then? I’m going to need to know a bit more than that.” Billie asked wondering where the hell this was supposed to lead.  
“Then I’ll need to make a phone call.” Sterling shouted as she briskly walked toward the entrance of the graveyard ignoring the eyes of displeasure that was burning into the back of Sterling’s head. Waving a hand above her head to reset Billie’s attention for one last tidbit, “Just don’t bring her here yet!” And with that she was gone, walking to who knows where leaving Billie wondering just what kind of crazy plan this chick had. Well if it didn’t go the way she wanted, Billie always had her own plan. Wouldn’t hurt to have it ready on standby just in case. Within a blink Billie was gone from the graveyard as well. Leaving nothing but groaning undead to further rise and march onward toward the nearest town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is a bit rough, but give the second and third one a try. I promise it'll be at least a little better.


	2. The First Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapta two! I think it's starting to flow a bit easier than before... Anywho please don't judge me if there are any mistakes or typos. Just let me know and I'll be happy to fix em.
> 
> Sam and Dean driving....and more driving. This is in Kansas so what do you expect. Not much there I can tell you. (Lived there for four years) Also a meetup with a stranger who is more than a little hurt.

Dean was doing his damnest not to hit every single undead that appeared on the road. The sheer number of them was beginning to worry him. He swerved to avoid a rather large decaying body lumbering into the center of the road when his eyes caught sight of Sam holding his shoulder with the nearly completely red handkerchief.

“You better not bleed on my seats.” Dean half-heartily threatened. Trying to lighten the mood with some levity. Sam gave him an unamused glance and tried to adjust himself in his seat, when he suddenly felt a had on his back. Sam winced as he looked to find Jack’s hand on his shoulder and without a thought healed his bullet wound.

“T-thanks.” Stuttered Sam. He balled up the handkerchief and threw it out the window. It was the end of the world after all….and things were not looking good. Castiel gave Jack a look of warning and Jack shrunk into himself so as to not cause any more displeasure to Cas.

“Okay so, did Billie say anything about how this plan of hers involved us?” Sam turned to try to face Jack while bracing for all the violent swerving that Dean couldn’t avoid doing.

“She didn’t really tell me much other than what I already told you.” Jack stated. “She needs us alive and that she has an idea on how to deal with Chuck.”

“I wonder what idea that would be.” Dean hissed pressing the gas just a little bit harder.

“Maybe she’ll enlighten us later we just need to get out of the line of fire of these… things. Cas you got any idea what’s going on here?” Sam asked trying to get a better look at some of the dead for any clues.

“Chuck said this is the end times so if we go by…” Castiel was interrupted by a massive blast of celestial wind that seemed to knock both him and Jack a little askew. Baby even skidded a bit sideways in reaction to the sudden burst of energy taking everyone by surprise.

“What the hell was that? Is that part of it?” Dean asked, fighting to take back control of the veering Baby.

“I’m not sure what that was, just a massive celestial energy that…” He was interrupted by another blast even bigger than the previous one. Forcing baby and all it’s occupants completely off the road. They flew a good ten feet into an open field only rolling once but baby landed safely on all four tires. Not to say that all inside were shaken up pretty good.

“Alright, what the Hell?!” Dean was the first to shout after a few good moments to make sure everyone was alive and okay.

“There appears to have been another massive wave of celestial energy. I know not what may have caused it but…it felt something like God creating something.” Dean spun around in his seat to find Castiel’s face pale and sweaty. Castiel liked being human in some ways sweating wasn’t one of them.

“Let’s just make it to the Bunker and see if we can figure this out.” Dean started Baby back up and after a few good turns of the key she roared back to life. As they got back on the road, they found that the undead were oddly less in number on the road, but nobody addressed it. Didn’t want to jinx a good thing, if you could call that good.

After a few good hours of driving and experiencing a decent handful of near misses with hoards of undead Baby and company finally made it to the bunker in one piece, albeit a bit shaken up. Dean takes a moment to assess the damage done to Baby and groans in frustration, nothing to be done about it now, they’ve got bigger fish to fry. Everyone filed toward the main room but before they can get anywhere, they had to find the shut off switch for all the alarms going off inside the bunker. Every alarm the place was built for was going off at once. It took way longer than anticipated to turn them all off, but not without leaving nearly everyone with some form of a headache.

“Phones are down, so is the internet.” Sam stated, trying not to think of the hell that was most likely going on outside.

“I’m trying the CB, but all I’m getting is static.” Dean mumbled. “Anything on Angel radio?” He glanced toward Castiel who was standing in place with his eyes shut.

“It’s quiet, too quiet.” He looked at Jack, “Can you hear anything?”

“Nothing.” Jack sighed.

They each in turn looked at another taking in the situation, it was _The End_. One of innumerable amount of _End_’s that they’ve come across. They’ve come through on all the other _Ends_, albeit a little worse for wear but this, according to them was just another day. Dean began mulling over everything that happened, from the moment Chuck showed up to the moment he left starting the end of it all.

“He’s running scared.” Dean pipped up, “Chuck is running scared, did you see how fast he…killed you?” he gestured to Jack trying to start conversation to cleanse the silence that was beginning to unnerve him. But the memory of Jack being burned by Chuck was still a fresh wound that hadn’t quite healed yet. You’d think he’d be used to this by now.

“He did seem a bit worried, more than usual.” Sam pondered. “If he could have killed Jack this whole time, why bother going through the trouble of making you do it? What was the point?” He flopped into one of the chairs around the lit table that appeared to be covered with nothing but read and blue dots scattering across the map.

“Who the hell knows. Just some other test?” Dean started, “Maybe he wanted a perfect ending to his story, or some new chapter.” He paused, “We screwed up something he had going…” He looked to Castiel with a pained look searching for some meaning as to why things were going so far south. But before Castiel could give Dean some words of comfort there was a broken voice coming from the CB radio behind Dean.

“Dean…boys…Hell…” The voice sounded female and justifiably shaky. Dean rushed to grab the mic as he sat in front of the CB, turning the dials to filter through the static.

“Boys…what…. There’s too many…girls… hunkered down but…. last… backup?” Dean was able to make out that it was Jody on the other end, and through the scattered words he got the gist of what she may have been asking.

He pushed the button and started slowly, “Jody, what’s your 20? Again, Jody what is your 20? We’ll come to you. I repeat, we’ll come to you.” He was trying not to sound desperate, but he couldn’t even think of losing, no he pushed the thought to the back of his mind and focused on the broken voice coming from the CB.

“On way… you actually… stopped… gas and supplies… Colby… twenty-four… surrounded… Donna inside… about two hours out… like crazy…” Jody called back.

“She’s at Colby on route twenty-four, you gettin’ ready?” Dean turned to find Sam already packing two large duffel bags with every weapon he could think of. Jack and Castiel were readying the other duffel with bottles of water and some first aid kits. Dean smirked and turned back to the radio.

“We’re on our way Jody, I repeat we’re on our way. Stay put. Over.” He held the mic with bated breath for Jody’s replay.

“Roger… going anywhere… over.” She sounded at least a little relieved, but they’d have to hustle big time to get there before something happened. _“Two hours? I’ll be there in one.”_ Thought Dean as he jumped out of his chair grabbing one of the duffel bags and followed everyone as they made for the Impala. Baby may get more beat up for this, but Dean would sooner go to Hell than leave Jody and the girls to die in this hellscape.

As they sped toward Colby Sam looked out the windows noticing there seemed to be a distinct lack of undead in their area. Dean wasn’t having to swerve nearly as much as before and there seemed to be quite an absence of bodies on the road. Sam took a moment to pull out a Bible he had stashed in one of the duffel bags.

“Really?” Dean scoffed.

“Do you want to know what’s going on? Cuz I do. It may not be the perfect source material but it’s something. Not like I can use the internet for research.” He kept flipping the pages searching for the Revelations portion of the Bible. Upon finding it he started to dive into the verses searching for anything familiar to their current situation.

“Well he’s bypassed the seals and the four riders.” Sam started flipping more pages.

“Not true if you count that they were indeed all here at one point.” Castiel interjected.

“Yea but we stopped them. The dead rose then as well but it was just that one cemetery close to Bobby’s.” Sam mulled over the events of the past trying to place any connection to now.

“What I’m more concerned about, is what happened to the sun?” Castiel gestured with his finger where the sun should still be overhead them as it was a little past three o’clock.

“All that happened at noon?” Asked Sam as his eyes lit up as he remembered seeing something about that while flipping pages.

“A little before or right at.” Castiel affirmed.

_“_Listen to this,_ “But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”_ Sam recited. “Here’s another one, "_It will come about in that day," declares the Lord GOD, "That I will make the sun go down at noon And make the earth dark in broad daylight._”

“Well I don’t see any _stars_ falling.” Dean remarked. “Unless it’s talking about when all the angels fell when we were doing the trials.” He glanced at Sam who was wearing a face of slight worry as they both recounted that fateful day and how horrible they both felt for almost having gone through with it. “Aw man this whole thing is out of whack.” Dean grumbled resigned to just drive like a bandit toward their destination while trying not to think too heavily on what all this is supposed to mean.

“The sun didn’t just go dark either… it’s like it’s…” Sam stuttered.

“Gone.” Finished Castiel.

Silence fell in the Impala as they all realized just what the weight of loosing a sun meant for just about everything in their solar system. But before anyone could pipe up the courage to break the silence Dean swerved the Impala nearly hitting a sudden group of undead that seemed to appear from nowhere.

“Damn!” Dean veered as he clipped a few of the undead on the opposite side of the road, taking out one of Baby’s headlights in the process.

“I see a gas station!” shouted Jack as he pointed toward a blinking sign for a small station named _Corner Pump_ it was completely surrounded by undead, but through the hoards Sam was able to make out Jody’s truck.

“I have eyes on Jody.” Sam stated as he tossed the Bible back into the duffel and fumbled around for an angel blade and a machete, all while keeping an eye on a few of the undead that happened to take notice of their arrival. “She’s stuck in her truck, but I don’t see anyone else.” He peeled his eyes away from her to look at the store that was somewhat fortified with makeshift pallet boards on the windows and the door was being pounded on by more than a few bodies. Dean spun around in the drivers seat to grab Jack by his arm.

“You good kid?” Deans’ face was lined with worry. They never did get to go over how Jack really came back, and if he came back whole this time.

“I have my soul back so no need to worry. I won’t push myself too hard.” He looked into Dean’s eyes with such determination, it didn’t quite make him feel all too comfortable about this, but at least the kid was being straight with him.

“Alrighty then. Keep an eye on him Cas.” Dean tapped Jacks arm with approval and grabbed the angel blade waiting for him from Sams’ hand. “Let’s do this.” He growled as they all exited the Impala and started in on the few zombies that had taken notice of them.

They used the knowledge that they couldn’t be killed but just incapacitated by knocking out their legs or removing their kneecaps. Makes running from these things easier when they can only crawl on the ground. Dean made a motion with his hands and they split into groups of two, Castiel and Jack moved toward the store as Sam and Dean made their way to Jody’s car. They hacked and slashed as many legs as they could to incapacitate as many as possible before finally reaching the driver side door to find Jody absolutely ecstatic that the boys had made it to her without dying in the process.

“Bout time you boys showed up!” She shouted as she rolled down the window partly so she could have an easier time hearing them.

“Who’s all here?” Dean asked as he took out another undeads knees causing it to collapse backward onto the ground and grumble loudly.

“Claire, Alex, Donna, and myself. They all went in when it was calm, and these things just came out of nowhere and swamped us. You boys wasted no time.” She called out. “What the hell happened, and don’t tell me it involves you guys!” her frustration mounted as Dean gave her a look she didn’t quite like.

“We’ll explain later, for now let’s just get everyone to the bunker.” Dean shouted above the groans of the zombies that slowly began converging in on him and Sam.

“Roger that, I’ve got an idea.” Jody rolled the window back up and slammed the truck into reverse, running over any and all undead that were behind her. Dean gave her a look of surprise and mild amused approval. _“Not bad.”_ She then jerked it back into drive and lunged the car forward directly in front of the vacant front door that Cas and Jack had cleared of all undead.

Sam and Dean took that as the signal to get back into Baby and move her closer to the door themselves. On the way to the Impala they saw that the hoard of zombies was growing larger as more poured in from somewhere in the town nearby behind the gas station.

Inside the store Castiel and Jack were taking in the wounded and healing them to the best of their ability, meaning mostly Jack did the healing as Castiel made sure no one was panicking too much. There were five people altogether in the store, Claire, Alex, Donna, a young girl who looked like the clerk of the store, and an older man.

“How did you people do that?” The older man started to panic “Who are you people?”

“We’re here to help.” Castiel stated flatly as he looked to Claire. “I’m so glad you’re safe.” He made a move to hug her which she accepted thoroughly.

“How did you guys find us?” Donna asked in obvious wonder.

“Jody was able to reach us on the CB. Now we need to get you all out of here. Can everyone fit in Jodys’ truck?” Castiel asked looking to Donna as he dropped Claires’ embrace but not without leaving one hand on her shoulder for support. She was obviously rattled at their current situation.

“I brought mine as well.” Stated Donna as she made a move to look out of one of the store windows. She jumped back as she witnessed Jodys’ truck lunge forward to directly in front of the door. “But I think we’ll just hop on in hers. Let’s get a move out.” She started herding everyone toward the front as Jody could be heard just outside call them all to get the hell in. Without too much delay they piled into her truck one after another, each carrying some supplies as Jack and Castiel kept a close watch on the impending zombies that were starting to file in from behind her truck. Suddenly the Impala came crashing into a few of them before they could get too close to the tail end of Jody’s truck. After everyone was in the truck Jack and Castiel shut both doors and tapped on the side to signal to get out while they can. Jody wasted no time in peeling out of the gas station as fast as she could while keeping a keen eye on the Impala. She wasn’t about to leave them without making sure they were able to make it out of there themselves. Castiel and Jack jumped into the backseat as Dean slammed on the gas causing the tires to squeal as they lurched out of there without a moment to lose.

Baby’s one headlight was still going strong but now had a faint shade of red. Dean pressed the gas a bit harder to overtake Jody so that he could lead them toward the bunker. He decided to try the route that seemed to be bereft of any undead on their way there, that may provide them with some breathing room.

The amount of dodging they had to do was still substantial and nearly made Jody lose them once when a group became virtually too large to maneuver around. But as they neared the bunker the amount of them slowed to a trickle, then to hardly any at all. Jody felt anything other than comfort at this, the whole thing made her uneasy, but she kept her eyes peeled for anything. Then through the dark she noticed a shape, it looked like an undead but the movements it was making didn’t really seem like one. The boys didn’t seem to see it or if they did, they made no motion to acknowledge it. Once her headlights hit it, she instantly realized it was a person. She started to slow down to get a better look. The woman looked to be injured and was walking without too much of a stumble, she was trying to wave to get the attention of the boys, but they couldn’t see her due to the lack of light. The woman appeared to be holding her side that was red with blood. Jody stopped her truck just passed the injured woman and quickly slid out of the driver seat with her gun drawn and pointed directly at the womans’ chest.

“Are you one of them?!” Jody shouted toward the woman. She had stopped in her tracks after seeing the gun and held up one arm above her head while still holding one arm onto her bloody side.

“Those things? Do I really look like them now?” The woman panted with a slight chuckle.

Jody with her gun still trained on her walked closer to get a better look at the person who was miles away from any civilization. The woman had long curly red hair tied up in a ponytail that cascaded over one shoulder. All she was wearing from where Jody could see was a T-shirt, a grey hoodie, and jeans. One leg was red with blood running down to her shoes which were caked in mud and covered with blood. “Where did you come from?” She asked while eyeing her intently. Sam and Dean had spun around immediately upon noticing Jody had stopped following and was pulling up slowly behind her.

“What’s going on here Jody?” Asked Dean. He looked at the woman who Jody had a gun on and noticed that she was bleeding quite heavily.

“I came from Colby when…” She paused to either take in a breath or to get her thoughts together, “This whole nightmare started. I was swamped by… those things and…” She gasped as she took one step closer to Jody. “Please help me.” She huffed. Jody holstered her weapon which made Dean pull out his and train it on the woman as Jody walked up toward her. He wasn’t taking any chances.

“I’ll help you, now give me your arm.” Jody went to the woman’s good side and held her arm over her shoulders helping her carry her weight as they walked to the back of the truck where Jody opened the doors. “Could I get a little help here?” She looked over at the Impala signaling for one of them to assist her in some way. Castiel without missing a beat hopped out of the backseat and helped lift the injured woman into the truck and helped ease her down on some blankets in the back.

“Alex, you have a patient.” Jody called into the cab. Alex maneuvered around the other passengers in the truck to the back and began working on the woman who they picked up. She gasped at the sight of the wound the woman was trying to keep pressure on. It was as if she was clawed and gouged, Alex shook her head to rid herself of the thought of what could have happened and looked to Jody.

“Try to drive not too erratic.” Alex whispered to Jody as she went to close the doors.

“I won’t.” She reassured Alex. Jody sighed as she shut the doors and began walking back to the driver’s seat. Dean did an Uwe to get back on track, he slowly pulled the Impala alongside Jody.

“Everything okay there Jods? You sure about this?” Sam asked through the passenger window.

“Yea, um… She just looked like she needed help.” Jody smiled, but she felt somewhat uneasy about this encounter, she just couldn’t place her finger on it.

“Let’s get to the bunker, no more stops.” Dean called out from the driver side. He wasn’t trying to come off angry, but it was a bit too late for that.

“Alex will handle her. Let’s get movin’ boys.” Jody waved them forward as she wants to move past this anxiety building up inside her. When she returned to the driver’s seat Claire leaned over the middle console from her backseat so that no one else other than Jody and Donna could hear them.

“That was weird.”

“You’re not kidding. We’re almost there anyway.” Jody strapped in and tried not to jostle the truck too much as she could faintly her a moan of pain from the back.

They made it into the bunker in record time what with there hardly being any undead whatsoever outside. As everyone piled out of all vehicles Jody and Donna went to the back of the truck to see what help they could provide. Once they opened the doors and saw just how much cleanup Alex had done within such a short amount of time, they were stunned by how many blood-soaked rags were piled behind her.

“How is she?” Donna asked trying to get a closer look at the pale woman.

“Well she’s not a monster, I did everything. Silver, holy water, salt, the works. She’s just a human who is shockingly still alive. She bled out a good quart or two, I can’t imagine how she managed to stay conscious.” Alex moved to exit the truck and was stopped by a hand grabbing her wrist. The pale woman took a deep breath and went to lift herself off the floor of the truck.

“NO, wait don’t move! You’ll open the stitches!” Alex tried to stop her with her available hand, but the woman moved without listening and slowly lifted herself up, holding her breath the entire time she moved.

“I can…” She gasped as she began scooting herself toward the end of the truck. Alex got up slowly and moved to the woman’s’ good side to help her as much as she could without causing too much pain. Jody and Donna were waiting with arms outstretched at the end of the truck and helping the woman’s legs to find their way into a more suitable position.

“Boys! We’re going to need a gurney or something!” Donna called out. She was shocked to see Sam pushing a rolling gurney their way hurriedly. “You wasted no time.” Sam positioned the gurney as close to the woman as possible so that once she got up, she could immediately sit down on it. Once the woman was seated on the tail of the truck, she sat there for a few seconds catching her breath.

“Thanks…” She gasped.

“Don’t talk, just breathe. You can rest once you’re on this.” Alex scolded.

“Feisty…” The woman chuckled as she took several deep breaths before slowly getting to her feet. The moment she put her weight back on her legs her eyes widened in pain and she gritted her teeth in an effort to not scream in pain. Alex swiftly jumped down from the truck and gently grabbed her good arm and her other shoulder as she moved her to turn on the spot, so her rump was facing the gurney. Donna gently grabbed the woman’s arm and guided her to sit slowly on the gurney. As the woman sat, she let out all the air she was holding onto with her teeth still gritted in pain. The next step was going to be the hardest and all parties understood this. Alex moved to the lady’s feet, knelt down and held both of her feet in her hands while looking her straight in her eyes.

“As I lift up slowly, I want you to lay back as slowly as possible. Okay? Sam raise the back of it as high as it will go.” She ordered patiently. Alex wanted to move as slowly as possible so as to not upset the stitches she managed to put in, they weren’t her best, but they would stop the bleeding until they got to more solid ground. Sam raised it until it clicked at its full height, it wasn’t much but he knew it would make the process of laying down easier. He hadn’t seen the wound but could gauge by how many bloody rags he saw it wasn’t looking good.

“I’m ready.” The shaky voice from the woman made everyone want to stop this altogether. It was clear she wasn’t ready, but she seemed headstrong.

“Alright on three. One… Two… Three…” As Alex lifted the woman twisted and laid her head back slowly, the grunts and moans that the woman gave off made everyone uneasy. Blood from her side started to seep through her thin bandages. As soon as she was on the gurney fully her head lolled to one side lifelessly. Alex checked her pulse along her neck.

“Just passed out. Let’s get her to the infirmary.”

“Holy moley.” Donna said aloud as Jody gave her a slight tap on the shoulder. Donna turned to help Jody and Claire retrieve all the supplies from the back of the truck. Dean kept the door open for Alex as he looked down on the pale woman and the red spot on her bandaged side grow larger. After they made it through the door Jack and Castiel helped guide her toward the infirmary.

“How is she?” Dean whispered to Sam. “And how the hell did she make it out there all by herself?”

“She doesn’t look to be doing too good. And I was wondering the same thing. How’d she make it all the way out there? Do you remember seeing any cars on the way?” He folded his arms and looked around at the girls who were handling the few supplies they had pretty well.

“Nada, although…” Dean stopped, pondering for a moment, “I didn’t even see her, Baby did have a headlight out. Who’s to say I missed a few cars as well.”

“I don’t know. We’ll have to wait till she’s doing better to ask her anything.” Sam resolved as he went to help Donna with what looked to be a heavy box. Dean went around and helped Jody move a few things into a few of the Bunker’s rooms that were vacant and ready for occupants.

Once everyone was settled in all their rooms, Castiel came into the main room where everyone was resting for a moment. He was helping Alex as much as he could with the wounded woman, healing what he could.

“Well, we’ve done all we can for the moment.” Castiel stated.

“How’s Alex?” Jody asked, taking a sip of water from her water bottle.

“She’s doing really well considering. She said she’ll join us in a moment.” Castiel walked over to Jack who was looking a little more than anxious.

“I could help.” Jack whispered to Castiel. “I could heal her.”

“No, not until we’re sure you’re… all you.”

“You still don’t think I have my soul back.” Jack sat down somewhat defeated. He understood where Castiel was coming from but felt helpless in that he wanted to aid as much as he could.

Castiel softened at the sight of his defeated surrogate son and knelt down to ensure his eyes met Jacks. “No one is saying that, but we want to be sure everything is okay before you start using too much of your powers.”

Jack fidgeted in his seat a bit then sighed, “All right.”

Alex walked into the main room waving her wet hands to dry them as she walked toward the table with water bottles sitting on top of them. She grabbed one and swiftly twisted off the cap downing a good portion of the water before finally taking the seat next to her.

“That woman is stronger than she looks!” She gasped between gulps. “I can see how she walked that far for that long.”

“How’s she doing now?” Donna asked handing her a sandwich from a pile on a plate that Claire had made. Alex took the sandwich gratefully and held it to her mouth.

“She’ll live.” She took a bite of her sandwich and gave a slight moan. “Damn Claire. You really went all out with these.”

“She does make a mean sandwich.” Piped up Dean, who was lounging in one of the chairs thoroughly enjoying his portion of sandwich. The girls chuckled and each giving Sam and Dean a look as if they’re waiting for information as to just what the hell was going on. Sam was quick to read the room and began telling the story by starting from the moment when Chuck decided to show up.

In the infirmary our wounded woman was resting quite peacefully while listening in on the conversation being held in the other room.

“So, this is how you mingle?” Came a voice directly in front of her. She opened her eyes to find Billie giving her a rather unbecoming look of both shock and amusement.

“It’s the best I could come up with.” Sterling fidgeted under the covers a bit, “Plus this is THE group.” She took this moment to fully take in the room around her.

“By faking a horrendous wound like that?” chuckled Billie, “I’m shocked they don’t think you’re not human.”

“_Psh_… I’m not worried about this. But I am worried about this place. I’m going to need to set some wards.” Sterling gazed about the room taking notice of the wards already set in place. “Most of these are weak, and nothing really stopping from him listening in.”

“You can do that?” Billie gave a look of amused shock.

“Honey I can do about anything.” Sterling retorted, “Also, by my account they’re missing a star, their Sun?” She postulated to Billie.

“You’re assuming correctly.”

“Well we can’t have that.” Sterling grumbled, “But in order for it not to interfere with the current projections of gravitational pull and…” Sterling looked to Billie who was giving her a look of impatience. “In two hours, I should be able to return their sun.”

“Wow.” Billie said flatly. “That’s all well and good, but what if he comes back?”

“He won’t.” Sterling said with a manner of seriousness that made Billie drop the subject all together.

“Then if it’s that easy why are you having to play sick.” She gestured toward Sterling’s fake wound.

“Who says I’m playing?” Sterling snipped back. With a breath she took a second before coming back. “I’ll reveal all when all parties are here and accounted for and…” She snapped her fingers as a strong ward silently and stealthily formed in every nook and cranny of the Bunker. “All measures are taken.” She finished. Billie gave her a look of mild approval.

“All right. I guess I’ll keep looking.” With a blink she was gone, leaving Sterling alone in her bed with her thoughts.

_“That took a bit more out of me than I anticipated. I’ll rest for a bit then give making a new sun a go.”_ As she laid her head into her pillow, she slowly fell into the gap between sleeping and being awake. She still wanted to listen to the people that were kind enough to help her but relished in the sweet nothing that was sleep. She kept a mental track of the movement of time and when the moment came, she snapped her fingers once more. Within the other room she could hear the people loudly exclaiming what she already knew. She couldn’t help but smile as she longed to help these beings that _Chuck_ had so poorly wronged. With that snap came the familiar feeling of falling and sharp stabbing pain that radiated throughout her whole body. It was a pain she thought she had grown accustomed to so long ago. She gasped for a second then regained her composure, this time she’ll really have to sleep. _“Why’d he have to make the star that big in the first place! That was way more than I thought.”_ She thought as she slowly began to lose consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The location of the gas station actually exists as well as the tiny town of Colby, passed through it once on a golfing tournament. Just a bit of extra Kansas thrown in. Not gonna be much Kansas fun after this chapter though... hint hint.


	3. Knockin' On Heaven's Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I can FEEL MY WRITING CHOPS RETURNING!!!! WHOOOOSAAAAA  
I'm getting better with the flow now.
> 
> The sun is back, but something is off. Castiel has this burning, itching worry that's sitting in the back of his mind, and the only way to fix it is to scratch it. Even if it means endangering someone he loves. Also a certain red-head pops in to see just what in the blue-blazes is going on. And it ain't Breakfast.
> 
> JUST A WARNING there's some gore detail that happens somewhat in the beginning. Just as an FYI. It's not a lot though, I didn't go into SUPER detail. I could though....if I wanted.

In the war room alarms were sounding loudly again as the lights on the walls and table blinked frantically.

“Um, what does that mean?” Claire asked gesturing to the light show that was happening.

Sam was already on top of the computer and the readouts it was giving, while Dean searched for the off switch. Two headaches in two days is just too much at this point. After finding the correct group of switches Dean flicked them on and off, thereby shutting off the alarms. Alex ran past him to what he assumed was to check on the patient. Dean sauntered to the side of Sam as he tried to make out just what the computer was freaking out about.

“According to this, there was a massive celestial event that just happened. Let me compare it to the readouts from earlier.” Sam grabbed the pile of printouts that were near him on the desk, good thing he didn’t throw them away yet. Dean started up the stairs leading out of the front door.

“Hey! Be careful! I can’t make out what happened yet!” called Sam as he was torn between going with his brother or trying to make sense of all the numbers and degrees printed on either paper. Without even a moment passing by Dean came running back into the main room like a kid at Christmas.

“THE SUN IS BACK!” Dean shouted at the top of his lungs. Sam dropped the papers and ran up the stairs behind Castiel and Jack who were already halfway up themselves. Everyone filed out of the door in front of the Bunker to look up at the sun. Castiel glanced at his watch then back up as if tracking its accuracy. The rotation of the Earth was back to normal as well.

“Why would he do that?” pondered Dean, “Why would he bring it back?”

“So soon too?” Sam added.

“I have no idea. Let’s just be glad it is back, for now.” Castiel grumbled as he turned to return into the Bunker. One by one everyone filed back into the Bunker leaving only the older gentleman, the young clerk from the gas station, Sam, and Dean.

“Do you think it’s safe to go back?” asked the older man.

“Not sure, but you’re welcome to stay if you like. You and?” Sam gestured toward the young lady to reveal her name.

“Sarah. Sorry, it has been kinda hectic, what with _God_ and all.” She stared at the ground realizing the ridiculousness of what she’s saying, and how it sounds.

“I have a grandchild I need to check on. Can’t leave him to this mess. He has his father, but he ain’t worth more than two pennies to rub together.” The old man grumbled.

“I need to get back too, I’m worried about my brother Ben. Our dad was in the Marines and I’m sure the ‘fort’ held but…” she trailed off in thought as she looked out toward the main road.

“Well, we’ll give you some supplies and a car you guys can have to get back to town. If you run into any trouble with those zombies, run. Don’t fight them.” Sam made it a point to look directly into each of their eyes to further drive the point home.

“Trust me, after what happened earlier, we won’t. Fight I mean.” Sarah corrected. She was justifiably nervous, but Sam was hoping with a bit of light instruction and some quick pointers she should be ok. He hoped. He guided them back inside leaving Dean outside thinking to himself just what in the hell happened. He couldn’t quite get over how in one minute the sun was completely gone, and within a few hours it was back again as if nothing had happened. _“What is Chuck planning?”_ After about ten minutes or so to think to himself, he decided to worry about it later, right now he wanted to pop in on the invalid and see where she was at for recovery. She seemed like the fighting type; Dean liked those with a bit of backbone.

As Dean shut the door behind him, he could hear a crackling noise coming from the war room and as he looked out over the bannister Rowena popped into view holding onto quite a few of her precious tomes. It seemed she had escaped quite a kerfuffle wherever she blew in from.

“Rowena, how’s tricks?” Dean asked with a slight smile. He liked ruffling her feathers when he could. She turned to give him a sneer but thought it best to fake a smile as she set down her tomes onto the center table.

“I was…” she gasped as she laid down her largest tomes with a thud, “Bombarded at my flat!” She exhaled forcefully as another wrapped stack thudded onto the table, leaving a small bundle under her arm as what was left. “Did anybody bother to warn me the dead were rising from their grave?” She set the smaller bundle on top of the larger set as she flopped into the nearest chair, looking exhausted. “Not to mention the sun disappearing, and then reappearing before our very eyes?” She raised her hand to shake a boney finger at Dean, “Please don’t tell me you boys are the cause of all this?” Just then Sam walked into the room seeing Rowena pointing a long finger at Dean.

“Hey Rowena, didn’t hear you come in.” Sam stuttered.

“Aye Sam, nice to see you too. Now will someone please tell me what is bloody going on?” She looked back and forth between Sam and Dean. Dean coughed and tapped Sam on the shoulder. “I’ll leave her to you, I’mma go check on our wounded.”

“Right.” Sam scoffed.

Dean escaped from the room as quickly as he could, he did NOT want to receive the foul words she was bound to spew when she heard it pretty much was all them. Kinda, sorta, not really, honestly if _Chuck_ planned on it going this way was it really their decision? He shook his head to rid himself of going down _that_ rabbit hole. That was one hole he didn’t like exploring. He entered the infirmary to find Alex using a stethoscope to try to find a heartbeat.

“Whoa, whoa. Did she die?” Dean stopped halfway between her and the door waiting for an answer.

“No, her heartbeat is just so…. faint.” She removed the pieces from her ears and returned the stethoscope to dangle around her neck. “Frankly there’s not much else I can do for her. She’s got another blood bag and a few more saline and the wound should be better soon. But it’s like…” she paused not quite sure if she wants to say it out loud.

“Like what?” Dean inquired giving the stranger a look over. She was pale and seemed at ease in her sleep.

“Like… she’s in a coma.” Alex whispered.

“How long do you think?” Dean asked taking a seat on the bed next to the patient.

“Not up to me. I don’t think it would hurt to have Cas or maybe Jack…” she stopped at the sight of Dean giving her a hard look of _no_, “or not Jack.”

“Rowena is here, maybe we could have her give her a once over.” Dean proposed.

“Sounds good to me. Well, I’m going to have a long shower, care to watch her for a bit? If she wakes up just come get me, ok? Not that I think she’s going to wake up right now but…” She sighed, “you never know.”

“Roger that. Enjoy your shower.” Dean took out his phone to find one of the many games he had installed on it, the internet and phone services may be down but that wasn’t going to stop him from distracting himself from his thoughts. He pulled up one of the many iterations of _Candy Crush_ and began his latest level. He didn’t get too far till he heard light heels tapping on the floor toward him. He turned to find Rowena walking slowly toward him, eyeing both him and the unconscious lady in the bed in front of him.

“So, this is her. The odd woman.” Rowena straightened as the reached the foot of the bed of the woman in question.

“Yep.” Affirmed Dean as he tucked his phone back into his back pocket. He’ll finish that level later.

“Sam mentioned what might’ov happened to her. I suppose you boys think I should give it a go?” she looked at Dean for confirmation.

“Alex did mention, before she took off to take a shower, that it seems like she may be in a coma.” Dean recited, albeit a bit haphazardly.

“I’ll start with scrying then. Get the general idea of what’s going on.” Rowena rubbed her hands together as if to warm them up, then when she felt she had sufficiently raised her awareness she floated her hands above the strangers’ body starting at the feet. Dean had watched her preform this action a few times with Jack in place of the invalid. Dean didn’t want to think about that, so he focused on the slight humming sounds and slight twinges of movement from Rowena. Her humming started out calm and collected then as she neared the head, she sounded a bit frazzled and the notes sounded off-key.

“What’s up?” Dean wondering just what was with the odd humming.

“Well, I’m not quite…” she slowly breathed out as she searched a bit deeper “sure dear. Usually I can find a persons’ soul or being rather quickly, but…” she moved her hands to hover over the strangers’ heart, “it’s almost like I’m at the door knocking to be let in but, no one is answering.”

“So, she has no soul?” Dean questioned, confused with her analogy.

“Oh, she has one dear it’s there, but it’s just completely blocked off for some reason.” She moved her hands back down to her feet to finish the ritual. “Like she doesn’t want anyone poking their nose where she won’t want.” She held her hands in each other as she gave the girl another once over with her eyes. “The only thing I _can _do is give her a healing spell for the wound. I could try a waking spell, but I fear the after-effects may upset her more.” She looked at Dean who didn’t seem too pleased at the sound of that and he sighed as he rose to his feet.

“Well do what you can. Make sure if she wakes up to let Alex know. I’ll go tell her you’re on top of it. See if she needs a nap or somethin’.” Dean patted Rowenas’ shoulder lightly and walked out of the infirmary through the other door.

Rowena sighed as she looked at the strangers’ face that was starting to show some color. “Now it’s just us girls.” She sat on the bed next to the stranger as she prepared herself to preform a healing spell that rose in intensity as long as the caster was willing to pour as much energy as they wanted. She breathed deeply for a few minutes to quell any insecurities she may be harboring. The issue that this woman was able to completely block her from even getting a general feel of who this person is, was more than aggravating to say the least. This just made her more interesting to Rowena, like a rubix cube that looked nearly complete but with only one square out of place. The solution would be roughly simple, but it would take some time. Rowena extended her hands outward from her body hovering just a few inches above the area where the wound was. She could see it in her minds eye, the rough stitch work that was holding quite a few flaps of skin onto each other. The small holes that couldn’t quite be stitched due to the lack of skin in those particular areas. She probed a little deeper, the muscles in her entire lower side were a complete mess, a large chunk was missing entirely and some of the sinew was connected to nothing. She pushed deeper, but for some reason she couldn’t, as if the body was rejecting her, forcing her to return to the muscles. She took a deep breath and delved against the force of whatever was barring her. Without too much pressure she was finally able to see some of the damaged organs; a kidney was nearly on its last legs, a badly bruised hip bone, and large chunk of her colon was missing, but other than that she couldn’t see too much else.

“There, was that so hard?” She sighed content with herself and her abilities. She still couldn’t figure out how or why this persons’ being was fighting against her so much. She added that to the list of questions she intended to ask her when she awoke. Starting from the kidney she began the healing process; it didn’t take too long to get it into acceptable standards. When she returned to the muscles to try to mend them back to their original places, she could feel a slight pull on her shoulder. She opened her eyes to find a young black-haired woman standing next to her.

“Alex, I presume?” Asked Rowena, never fully dropping her healing spell. The distraction could hinder it, but she was more than capable.

“Guilty as charged. How’s she doing?” Alex asked while pulling up a chair to the end of the bed.

“She’s… interesting.” Rowena teased.

“I’ll say. Any other person with wounds like this would’ve died from the blood loss alone.”

“It’s odd…” Rowena started, pausing as she mended the majority of muscles leaving some of the other ones to heal by themselves. “I’ve never had to fight this hard to heal a person.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…” She slowly tapered off the healing aura thinking this was enough for the moment. “when I try to do anything, I get forced back. Under normal circumstances this is an entirely somewhat easy process.”

“But she’s not normal.” Alex gave her a knowing look, as if someone finally realized something she’s known for a while now.

“Quite.”

Rowena looked at the strange woman in wonder, she’ll have so many questions for her. As night fell everyone was exhausted from what a nightmare of a day they all equally shared. Alex resigned to let Rowena babysit the comatose stranger while she went and got some shuteye. Claire, Donna, and Jody all went into their respective rooms and crashed. Dean and Sam were left alone with Castiel and Jack in the main room continuously trying to get any news from the outside. Castiel was trying in vain to reach anyone in heaven, but it was as if no one was left to answer him. He was beginning to feel extremely uneasy; he knew if there were no angels left to keep heaven functional, the souls would be lost. He looked at Sam and Dean as they were trying to get the router working for the fifth time to see if they could get any internet. He needed to check on things, but he didn’t want to leave Sam, Dean, and Jack. He took a deep breath as he steeled himself for the inevitable pushback he was going to have.

“Guys, I need to go to heaven.”

Dean dropped what he was doing and spun around to face Cas with a mixed look of confusion and annoyance. “Um, what?”

“Look, I still can’t get anything from anyone up there, if there aren’t any angels in heaven, we won’t have just the souls that broke out of hell to deal with.” Castiel sped through every word knowing if he didn’t get it out it would never get a chance to again.

“Right, did you forget about the massive hoards of undead that are out there?! Not to mention the demons from Hell that are loose all over the frickin’ world! You’ll get torn to shreds!” Dean half-shouted, having to stop himself realizing people are trying to sleep.

“I realize that, but this is something I can’t just leave alone. Not when…” He paused looking to Sam for some kind of backup. “not when I can do something about it.”

“I’ll go with you.” Jack interjected, jumping out of the chair he was lounging in.

“No. Out of the question.” Castiel stopped him with an outstretched arm.

“I can help! I know where the door is.” Jack was beginning to get justifiably frustrated. He couldn’t stand being treated like a child. “I can fly us there and back.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea.” Pipped up Sam. Dean did a double-take and gave him a look of shock then disgust.

“We still don’t know if he’s even capable of doing all that. He was dead today, not like that stops us much anyway, but still. I say no, it’s too soon.” Dean folded his arms onto his chest. “We’ll come up with something else.” Sam knew this was his usual signal that he wouldn’t budge, but Sam knew if anyone could change Deans’ mind it was him.

“Dean, he’s already shown that he can use his powers without injuring himself. He healed me and blasted all those walkers when we picked up the girls.” Sam knew the implications of what could happen if they left the bunker, but he had faith in Jack and Cas. He knew if things went south in any way, they would fight like mad to get out and back to them. “They could just fly to the door and if things look sour, they’ll just fly back.” He looked Castiel in the eyes as if saying this to him as an order, of which Castiel and Jack both acknowledged.

Dean keeping is arms crossed and his head held high was trying not to show outwardly that he was actually considering this half-baked plan. But they’ve done more with less. And as much as he hated the idea of Castiel and Jack leaving his side so soon he was very concerned about the souls in heaven, including Mary and John. He mulled it around in his head and gave a look to Sam that meant, I’m weighing my options here.

“Fine, but if things look bad. At all. You come right back. Got it?” Dean pointed a finger at Jack that was between anger and love. He wouldn’t dare admit the ladder at the moment.

“Yes sir.” Jack replied, trying to hide a smile at finally being allowed to do something. He and Castiel stepped back from the center table and gave Sam and Dean one last look before disappearing.

“If he so much as gets a papercut I’m…” Dean started but didn’t dare finish, the thought of him being hurt at all was a thought he’d rather not address.

“I know, me too. Let’s get some rest huh?” Sam gave Dean a comforting pat on his shoulder to break him away from his thoughts.

“Sounds good.” Dean grunted as they both made their way to their respective rooms. Leaving the main room silent besides the few blips and beeps from the computers still running and collecting data.

Castiel and Jack jerked into reality in front of the sandbox that masqueraded as the door to heaven. The evening sky was dark, nearly devoid of stars either due to the light pollution, or the fact it was _The End_. Castiel did a quick sweep of any and all possible life forms in the area that could interfere with entering into Heaven. It seemed odd, there weren’t any undead or demons that he could sense. “_Are they being deterred by the door of Heaven?”_ Thought Castiel as he stepped toward the sandbox. The hidden runes in the sand lit up, leaking an inviting glow into the air around them. Jack was just as confused about the lack of evil dead in the area and decided to try his own search, which came up fruitless, yet there was this nagging feeling that something was off.

“Come on Jack, let’s make this as quick as possible.” Castiel held out his hand inviting Jack to join him in the sandbox, only they weren’t going to be building sandcastles.

Within a flash they were sent up into the winding hallways of Heaven. Immediately things seemed bleak. The lights were flickering on and off frantically leaving hardly a second of light to be shown. The hallways themselves seemed like some beast comprised of dark smoke writhed against the walls. Fearing the worst Castiel ran to the throne room, with a confused Jack in tow. Upon entering the room, he found Naomi sitting in one of the chairs next to _Chucks’_, her head in her hands but seemingly alright.

“Naomi, what happened here?” Castiel asked knowing his presence wasn’t exactly welcomed still within Heavens’ circle. He kept his distance to the doorway.

“It came to deliver a message.” Naomi muttered, not raising her head.

“What came?” Jack asked.

“The Shadow.” Her head slowly raised to look at Jack with a face bursting with a whirlwind of emotions. Anger, fear, hate, love, there wasn’t one you could pinpoint but it pained Castiel to see her in this way.

“It wanted me to deliver a message to you two.” She rasped holding everything within her to not lash out at the two of them.

“What was the message?” Jack asked. Castiel already feared he knew the answer but there was something else driving this emotion she was carrying, and he was afraid to dig any deeper.

“This. Changes. Nothing. Not even _THE END_.”

The room fell eerily silent, Castiel swallowed the lump in his throat. He already figured that, but what drove The Shadow to deem ravaging Heaven as a necessity? Was it because it _is_ _The End_?

“Where is everyone?” Castiel finally broke the static that was starting to grate on his ears.

“Dead.”

“How?!” His hands balled into fists… _All my fault._

“Did you not see the hallways? How do you think?!” She choked back a sob.

_I let this happen, how could I let this happen?_

“It’s over.” She returned her face into the palms of her hands. “Heaven is done.”

“I could make…” Jack was interrupted with a terse glance from Naomi.

“It wouldn’t be enough.” She hissed.

Mustering up all the courage he could Castiel took a step and knelt in front of Naomi, and softly placed a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t flinch or shy away, what would be the point?

“In the few years that I’ve been able to spend living with the humans, and the family I gained from joining them. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in existence. You are family to me as well, always have been and always will be. And with my family on earth there’s something one of them said when things were at their bleakest, when the sky was raining down and we felt all hope was lost.” Naomi raised her head to look into Castiels’ caring eyes, she was so tired and should hate him with every fiber of her being. He was the one who _left_. Yet in this moment she didn’t feel hate, or fear, or loss. She felt broken and numb as if everything inside her wanted to give up and let the pieces of her scatter into nothing.

There’s a tradition with Japanese pottery that has been handed down for generations. When a teapot or cup is broken, rather than throwing it away and purchasing or making a new one, they affix it back together. They use a method called **_Kintsugi_ **otherwise called “golden joinery.” This technique employs a special tree sap lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Once completed, beautiful seams of gold glint in the exposed cracks of ceramic, giving a one-of-a-kind appearance to each “repaired” piece. This unique method celebrates each artifact’s unique history by emphasizing its fractures and breaks instead of hiding or disguising them. In fact, Kintsugi often makes the repaired piece even more beautiful than the original, revitalizing it with a new look and giving it a second life.

“Keep grinding. No matter how much it hurts, no matter how hard it gets, you gotta keep grinding. And that’s how we’re gonna win.” Castiel took her hand in his and helped raise her to her feet. “We keep fighting, together.” They weren’t quite the perfect words he was aiming for, but a dear friend… no, a family member had said it, it quelled his dark thoughts in his time of need. He hoped it had done the same for Naomi.

As Naomi stood slowly taking in the words Castiel said while gripping his hand tight, a little piece of her that she thought she had lost in the chaos seemed to reappear. A sense of duty, no… it was rather a sense of longing, for what she wasn’t sure. To make things right again? To get the angels back somehow? To get Heaven in working order again?

“What do I do?” She asked still unsure if she was even allowed to ask such a question.

“What’s the first thing that needs to be done here in order to keep the souls of Heaven from falling back to Earth?” Castiel inquired.

She looked at him in confusion, he knew the state of it all and what was to happen next. Why bother asking a question that he already knew the answer to?

_Wait!_

“Come with me.” She stood up straighter. Her vessel was an utter mess, but she couldn’t bother to give it a thought now. This task was more important. Hell was already loose upon the Earth, measures needed to be taken to ensure the souls of Heaven weren’t lain waste to the beasts from below. There was only one option left and there was only one being capable but the only way to find said being was through a rather large magnifying glass, one only _God_ or his angels could access. _“It’s a long shot, but if anyone can do it, it’s these two. I’ll assist in anyway I can, even if I have to…”_ She led them winding down multiple endless hallways, Jack was doing everything in trying to keep up with them. Then without warning the hallway suddenly opened up into a massively expansive stark white room, it had no windows or doors, but judging by the minimal shadows that their vessels gave off one could tell the walls were not 90-degree angles. The floor slopped downward toward the center where it flattened out making it easier to stand. It was as if they were inside a dewdrop.

Naomi turned to face the two boys as they were getting their bearings.

“I haven’t seen this room since…” Castiel started, “But why are we here? This is just the Observatory. And if I recall correctly this room requires a massive amount of energy to function. The last time it was on was…”

“Just after creation. When _God_ disappeared.” Naomi finished. “I’m well aware.” She paused knowing what needed to be done next. “Stand there Castiel, Jack I may need your assistance.”

“Wait!” Castiel raised an arm to stop Jack. “First you have to tell me why. And another thing, I will not allow him to die for this.”

“He won’t Castiel, you have my word.” She reached a hand toward Jack giving him a loving smile. “Castiel your job will be to find Amara.”

“What!?” He shouted, “How will that even be possible? We couldn’t even find _Chuck_ with this, and you believe it will find Amara?”

“I have faith.” She smiled, still extending her arm as she patiently waited for Jack to be released from his fathers’ grip.

Slowly Castiel released his grip on Jack, but not before pulling him into a fast embrace.

“No matter what happens, do NOT use your soul. Do you understand me?” Castiel pleaded fighting the urge to pull himself and Jack and run back to the Bunker.

“I won’t. I promise.” Jack said shakily, the shock from the sudden embrace raising his apprehension as to what will happen next.

Castiel released Jack lingering one hand on his shoulder until Jack left it entirely, taking the hand of Naomi who was still smiling brightly. Together she led him toward the opposite wall and placed a hand on a hidden pad. A door-shaped portion of the wall instantly evaporated away, she led Jack into the small room with her. It was a touch cramped but it soon expanded after realizing there was more than one being inside it. With a click two white rods appeared on opposite walls that jutted out horizontally.

“What are these?” Jack looked on them with amazement, but he wasn’t sure if he should touch it.

“They’re power cores. It takes one or two beings with a rather large amount of power to call the Observatory to function.” She informed while touching hidden buttons on her side of the wall that remained unseen to Jack. “_God_ doesn’t even need the use of this room; it was made specifically for us. But only Archangels alone, or ten angels could offer enough power to use it.” She turned to face him as she finished pushing a few buttons. He was looking at the wall that separated them and Castiel. With one button push she made the wall sheer, so they could see him, and him them.

“Are you ready Castiel?” She spoke softly, Jack was wondering if Cas could even hear...

“Yes.” He replied quickly.

“You have her in your frame of mind? Her sense of presence?” She clarified.

“Yes.” He replied flatly, looking at Jack at first with concern but broke it with the sense of duty that needed to be done.

“Then let us begin.” Naomi raised a hand above her power core, turning to look at Jack. “When I say three, we both touch the cores at the same time. This device runs on grace, spend it sparingly, don’t let it pull you in. If you are pulled in, I won’t be able to help you and you will die. Do you understand?” She gazed into his eyes looking for a sign of understanding.

“I understand. Don’t let it pull me in. But what about you?” Jacks’ face changed from readiness to concern.

“Don’t worry, this isn’t my first time.” She winked.

Jack smiled at her content with the answer.

_“He’s a Nephilim so his amount of grace surpasses even Archangels, but I can’t let him use the amount they do. Even Michael was a mess after one go on this for only two minutes. I don’t know how long it will take to accurately find her…” _

“One…”

_“But I have faith in them.”_

“Two…”

_“All of them.”_

“Three!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can feel it, coming in the air tonight.  
Oh Lawd.
> 
> This chapter was a doozy for me....got stuck, then unstuck, then stuck again. Also there's a few not-so-well-hidden sex jokes in this one.....idk why. Just felt like it
> 
> Fight me.


	4. Is it Enough?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sterling has a startling wakeup call. What's happened? How long has she been asleep? Wait....  
Where is everyone?
> 
> No warnings to give on this one other than gore and it's mostly in the beginning.
> 
> We haven't even started yet... ;)

At first it was the sounds, there was scuffling sounds that sounded like a massive hoard of rats were climbing up the walls. She took a moment to tune out the sound of a choked alarm squealing a high pitch tone ringing loudly in her ears. Once the decibels were at a reasonable level she heard faintly in the distance, a loud bellowing, after she attuned her ears a bit she realized it was someone bellowing orders of some kind. Sterling slowly blinked as she tried to look to see what all the fuss was about, but when she opened them all she saw was darkness with bright flashes of red lights. The strobe effect was slightly nauseating but was dealt with easily and immediately as she learned to ignore it. The first thing she saw within the room was that she was alone. _“Well, can’t blame them. No idea how long I’ve been out.”_ Grasping her surroundings, she sent out her being to get a gauge on what the hell was going on, before immediately calling it back as a large group of about ten to fifteen undead waltzed into the infirmary. Sterling wasn’t quite sure if she was up for physical movement in her vessel at the moment, but she wasn’t about to test whether or not they would like the taste of her flesh.

In the war room Sam, Dean, and Donna were on the upper level fighting to get down to the first floor. Swiping at knees every which way they could, Donna was trailing behind the boys on the stairs down.

“Lucky we got back when we did eh?” Donna winced as she finished stabbing both knees off the last zombie on the higher level.

“We should’ve never went on that hunt!” Dean shouted while he decapitated a walker in front of him and gouging the knees out of another immediately afterward. The body of the headless dead was still reaching out and going for him as if the loss of its head was merely just a scratch.

“Dean!” Sam shouted as he turned around in time to spot the glaring walking issue.

“I know!” Dean hissed as he spun around after finishing another one to utilize his machete in slicing the legs directly out from under the headless marionette. “Don’t go for the heads.”

“GIRLS, YOU SAFE?!” Donna shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Yea, we’re on our way!” Came a shout from toward the kitchen.

“HOW MANY HAVE YOU GOT?!” Sam shouted genuinely worried.

“Only six left here!” Jody called as she neared the war room.

Dean trudged over toward the last one in the war room and removed both legs and the head before stomping toward the kitchen.

“DEAN IS ON HIS WAY TO YOU!” Sam shouted back. The look on Deans’ face was somewhat reminiscent to when he bared the mark of Cain. A look of pure rage that was needing to be let out. Sam didn’t dare address him about it now, but he’ll get to it later when Dean had a chance to breathe.

“INFIRMARY!” Shrieked Alex.

“SOMEONE GET TO THE INFIRMARY!”

Sam spun on a dime and ran as fast as he could with all the strength he could muster. Alex was close to the war room at that time and was doing her best to book it there as fast as her legs would let her. Sam was already at the doorway when she just joined him to see Sterling standing in the center of the room. Blood soaked her gown and she was standing amidst the semi-moving bodies scattered around her. Her hands gripped an athame that Rowena had left in the room from one of the many spells she tried to use to get the girl to wake. She turned slowly realizing there were people here now.

“What a way to wake up.” Smirked Sterling.

Sam and Alex were too stunned to say anything, but Alex was the first one to move toward her slowly.

“Woke up and these… things… just waltzed in. I didn’t even… think I…” Sterling looked down at the athame she held in her hand that was covered in old blood and grime from all the knees and heads she took off.

At that moment Dean and the rest of the entourage came running in prepared to fight whatever needed killing. They remained silently stunned as Alex placed a somewhat smudged calm hand on Sterlings’ that was gripping the athame as tight as possible.

Sterling gasped at the touch and loosened the grip to let the athame drop to the floor with a satisfying ting.

“How…” she swallowed as her brow furrowed in worry, “How long have I been out?” She looked first at everyone agape in the doorway, then to Alex who was wearing a warm smile that shifted to slight sadness.

The pit in Sterlings’ stomach dropped. _ “No…”_

“Three weeks.” Alex choked as she tried not to cry. For joy, for relief, in empathy? She couldn’t tell, but the look of utter shock on the strangers’ face as her knees were starting to give out. Alex grasped under her arm to aid her in lowering her down if needs be, but the stranger remained steadfast, though her knees wobbled a bit.

“Three…” She gasped as she shook herself from Alexs’ grasp and ran her bloodied hand through her hair and covered her mouth with the other as she spun around to avoid any and all eye contact. _“504 HOURS TOO LONG! I’VE BEEN GONE TOO LONG! I never would’ve thought… I don’t have time for… And I wasn’t able to...” _

_“DAMN IT!”_

Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes but with a deep breath she forced herself to get a grip as she spun back around, shocking Alex who seemed as if she was about to gently grasp her shoulder. Sterling cleared her throat as she wiped her nose with the back of her hand not realizing she had wiped blood on the lower half of her face.

“First thing’s first. Let’s get you cleaned up, then we’ll talk.” Alex spoke to her with a soft soothing voice she got used to using in her profession. Only this time she really felt like she meant it. She placed a calm hand on the strangers’ shoulder and guided her with her other arm toward the shower rooms.

“Can someone get the lights? Kinda hard to see in here!” Alex called behind her to the still dumbstruck group idling in the doorway.

Taking the hint Sam and Dean took to getting to the electricals to turn off the alarms and flick back on the lights. After a half hour to catch their breath Jody, Donna, and Claire started cleaning up the mess of moaning and squirming bodies in the infirmary, leaving the war room for the boys to handle. Grabbing as many lawn size garbage bags as they could from the stock room they first started dismantling the bodies into smaller pieces. The strobing red lights flicked off and the warm glow of the florescents blinked on in their wake, making the scene in the war room look like child’s play compared to the infirmary.

“Good God.” Mumbled Donna. “It’s like a slaughterhouse in here.”

“Makes you wonder who this chick is.” Joked Jody as she stuffed a squirming severed arm into her fresh bag.

“Surprised Rowena didn’t sense her waking up.” Claire thought outloud, “She said she placed a spell or something, she would spawn back.”

“Where’d she go anyhow? I missed that one.” Donna inquired as she stuffed a severed head into her nearly full bag.

“Said she was going back to her place to find a book. Something to wake her up, or something. And for… you know…” She stuttered; the memory of that conversation was a bit distant at the moment after fighting for your life just a half hour ago.

“Well, I for one am glad to see her awake at least. Although, can’t say much about her yet. We don’t even know her name.” Jody chuckled. The thought that even Alex forgot to ask was a joke in and of itself.

“Hey ladies need some help?”

Jody and Donna spun around to find a dirtied and still fuming Dean standing in the doorway holding a handful of garbage bags looking at the utter mess clearly for the first time.

“Whoa.” He breathed, shocked at the sight.

Jody gave a look to Donna as if having a silent conversation with each other using only their eyes. They had gotten quite good at it over the time they knew one another.

“Sure bud. You can start in the center there and we’ll all meet in the middle.” Donna pointed to a particularly large body that was squirming in the center that was a bit too big for the tired girls at the time. He was on it in a flash, wasting no time in separating body parts to stuff in his bag. Sam appeared in the doorway silently watching Dean and looking to both Donna and Jody. They knew.

“I’m going to start up dinner, sandwiches sound good to everyone?” Sam sighed anxiously, showing his growing worry for Dean subconsciously.

“Sounds great Sam.” Jody said as she gave him a warm smile.

“Super-duper.” Called Donna.

“Yep.” Called Claire in slight annoyance.

Dean didn’t answer as he hefted the remaining main body onto his shoulder with his full bag in tow and made his way to the back door to the awaiting pile of squirming bodies outside. Sam left them to begin getting dinner together.

“It’s gotten worse huh?” Donna whispered to Jody.

“Oh yea.” Jody sighed. “This time went a bit smoother though, without this whole… zombies in the bunker situation. How’d they even get in here anyway?”

“I got no clue.” Donna answered stuffing another nondescript part into her overly full bag. “Don’t make no sense to me. Thought they steered clear of this place?”

“Me too.” Jody pondered as she began removing all the sheets from the beds, resigned to just burn them rather than waste water and bleach.

She heard a tink as she was bundling up some of the sheets and looked down to find Rowenas’ athame still laying bloody on the floor.

“Guess it was a good thing she forgot this.” Jody mildly joked as she bent to pick it up, it was still sticky as she took hold of it, making her really wish she had remembered to put on a pair of gloves. Suddenly there was a crackling sound behind her and as she turned her head to look while still bent over to pick up the blade, Rowena materialized in the room in front of the strangers’ bed.

“Wha… OH bloody hell!” She spun around to find Donna holding a twitching arm and Jody bent at the waste picking up her athame, while Claire was watching shocked in the background. The room was still a sad sight with plenty of blood everywhere.

“What happened?!” Rowena screeched.

“Zombos invaded.” Claire pipped up.

“Wha… how?! When did…” She was reeling from the shock of the sight of the room and the teleportation. She grasped the footboard of the bed in front of her and took a few deep breaths.

“Where’s the girl?” She asked slowly enunciating every word clear as day so that no one misunderstood her.

Dean came lumbering back into the room with a fresh bag open and jumped a touch at the sight of Rowena.

“Rowena! Didn’t see your broomstick in the garage. Just get here?” Dean asked a bit angrily, though he hissed at himself for sounding like it.

“I did. What happened?” She asked coolly hoping to get a better answer from him.

“Can’t you tell?” He gestured with his bloodied machete at the entirety of the room.

“I can clearly see some of the undead somehow made their way in here, but how?” She was miffed by his answer but knew if she started into him, she wouldn’t hurt him as much as he was hurting himself at the moment. She could sense his anger within him boiling still, even after letting some of it out. She could tell, she gave quick glances to Jody and Donna who shook their heads slightly telling her not to pry too deep. Not now.

“I don’t know yet. Just want to clean this up for now. By the way your pet project woke up.” He mumbled over his shoulder as he knelt to pick up more parts from the floor.

“Really?! Well, where is she?” She looked around the room as if she thought she could be hiding in here somewhere.

“Alex is cleaning her up at the moment. They should be done soon.” Jody interjected relieving some of the pressure of questions from Dean.

“Wait…” She gave the room a good hard look this time, “Did, she… do this?” Rowena whispered.

“Yep.” Dean replied pithily.

Rowena chuckled for a second thinking this was a joke, but after looking around at everyones’ face and getting no reaction she slowed before realizing, “Oh Gods, you’re serious.”

“Yep.” Pipped up Claire, completely done with her area and moving on to the next body getting steadily closer to the center. Rowena cleared her throat.

“Where’s Sam? He called me earlier, but I lost my phone mid-teleportation.” Rowena lied.

“Kitchen.” Jody informed giving her a relieving smile now that Rowena finally read the room.

“Right, you all can leave the blood to me, I’ll get that up. Also, you won’t need to burn those sheets dear. Not much left I’m afraid.” Rowena smiled as she walked out of the room toward the kitchen.

“Well that’ll be nice.” Donna sighed in relief.

“You ain’t kidding. Did you notice the ceiling yet?” Claire chuckled.

Everyone but her looked slowly up at the completely blood-splattered ceiling with chunks still dangling.

“You gotta be kidding me?!” Jody sighed.

Rowena gave the doorway of the kitchen a few knocks before announcing herself. “Sam? Dear? You in here?”

Sam shot up from being bent down behind the counter holding a large silver serving platter.

“Rowena! When did you get here?” Sam gasped in shock for a second before regaining his composure.

“Just a few moments ago.” She stepped into the kitchen and sat slowly on one of the chairs at the small table. “Saw Dean. How is he?”

Sam cleared his throat as he placed the platter next to a rather large pile of roughly made sandwiches and started stacking them.

“Not well I take it.” She answered for him.

Sam paused.

“Were you able to find anything? Anything at all?” He pleaded. “Please tell me you have something.”

She sighed looking down at her intertwined fingers before bracing herself with a deep breath, “I searched through everything I had on contacting Angels. I assume the summoning spell I sent you didn’t work?” Sams’ silence was a yes to her.

“I’m sorry Sam, truly I am. I went through every Grimoire I have, even the Book of the Damned. I…” she braced herself. “Even tried a much stronger summoning spell.”

“The one that requires a portion of your soul!” Sam was appalled at the mere thought of that, it reminded him of Jack. He cursed under his breath at Rowena for even mentioning that spell making him dredge up not-so-fond memories. “I told you we’d find another way!” the words rising to an angry rumble as he came forward to confront her.

“I didn’t know what else to do! I’m as worried about them as much as you two!” Rowena shouted slamming an open palm on the table as she shot up to her feet to meet him. She reached out with both hands to ground Sam with her in this moment.

“We will get them back. I swear it.” She looked him in the eyes trying to get him to make eye contact. He was avoiding her gaze at first still harboring annoyance toward her stupid action.

“I know we will, but not like that. We’re better than that Rowena.” He shook her off him and swiftly returned to his sandwich stacking.

There were a few moments of tense silence as she slowly sat back down, still wringing her hands trying to rid her mind of all the nasty thoughts she was imagining. Sam took a deep breath and sighed letting the anger and stress of the day with that breath leave his body.

“So, what called you back? I thought you had a spell or something to tell you when that woman wakes up.” Sam inquired, trying to change the subject onto something less stressful.

“I do, did.” She paused, taking a moment to really think about it. “So why didn’t it?” she asked herself in a hushed whisper.

“Can’t hear you when you mumble Rowena.” Sam sighed in slight annoyance.

“Why didn’t it alert me when she awoke?” She pondered louder so he could hear.

“Well, what did you put the spell on?” Sam inquired, like a parent inquiring where their child had placed an item before losing it.

“I put it on my athame.” She replied with a frown deep in thought. “It has a spell on it that warns me when anyone touches it. That’s why I put it right next to her bed and told Alex to…” she trailed off for a moment.

“Sam? When I was in the Infirmary Dean, Donna, Jody, and Claire all said she was the one who made the mess in there. Is this correct?”

“Yea, we walked in to find her standing in the center all bloody holding… your…”

Sam stopped stacking the sandwiches and took a few slow steps toward her table to better read her expression.

“Rowena, what exactly does your athame alert you for?” Sam asked as slow as molasses, mulling it over in his own mind.

“It warns me when a human is about to use it.”

There was such a silence that if someone even breathed it felt as if the air would explode. Sam sat in the chair opposite her staring her in her eyes.

“When you teleported here, who was holding your athame?”

“Jody.”

Sam placed a hand on his mouth. The shock of the situation was palpable, leaving them both lost in their own minds as to what this could possibly mean.

“We can’t reveal this yet.” Sam finally muttered after a few tense moments.

“Can’t? Why? We don’t know who, or what that thing is! And you want to leave it alone for now?” she scream-whispered.

“Exactly why we can’t confront this ‘thing’ yet. We don’t know what it is? Could it be _Chuck_ in disguise? We don’t know!” He leaned back in his chair running a stray hand through his hair as he continued. “We can’t cause a panic; it could endanger the girls.”

“Not to mention how Dean would take it.” Rowena muttered.

“Exactly. For now, we lay low and just keep an eye on her.” Sam folded his arms on his chest trying in vain to hide his discomfort. _“If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.”_

Rowena sighed while applying pressure on her temples while rotating in little circles with her fingers.

“Hey, I don’t love this either.” Sam chuckled.

“Don’t love what?” pipped up Claire as she shot around the doorframe still covered in blood and grime.

“The… fact that… I’m out of mayo.” Stuttered Sam.

_“Smooth.”_ Thought Rowena.

“Ew, you like mayo? Didn’t peg you for a miracle whip kind of guy.” She wistfully snatched a sandwich off the top of the pile.

“Eh, thought I’d give it a try.” He announced as he stood up to finish stacking the sandwiches and pull out a case of beer. “How’s the room? Done already?”

“Yep, Dean was a tornado. Your turn Row.” She gave a satisfied snicker as she bit into her slice, then gave her sandwich a look of disgust. “Eck what’d you put in these?”

“I only copied what you made the other day!” Sam replied appalled she was dissing his sandwich making skills.

“Dean’s right, you can’t even make a decent sandwich. I’ll help ya out this one time.” She started to grab a few of them before Sam caught her hands in midair.

“Not before you wash your hands first.”

Claire groaned but knew it was necessary. Sam gave Rowena a look that clearly said _“Act natural”_ which she picked up on.

“Right, guess I’ll go do the finishing touches. Later dears.” She waved to Sam and Claire as she walked somewhat shakily back to the infirmary.

In the shower room Alex was tossing the hospital gown that the stranger was wearing, all bloodied and grimy, into a nearby trash can. The sound of the shower running was somewhat soothing and the hot steam that was accumulating in the room made it a bit stuffy. She turned toward the showers glancing around a corner at the only occupied stall. She couldn’t see the stranger, but the feet on the floor with trickles of blood now and again made her relax. She was doing well, really well considering.

“How you doin?” Alex called anyway.

“Doing good, hey you got any conditioner? I grabbed the wrong one.” The stranger called.

“Oh shoot, yea I got some. Hold on I’ll grab it.” Alex called as she turned to the bench behind her littered with bathing items that she pulled out. She had let the stranger select the ones she preferred leaving the rest to sit until Alex was sure she didn’t need anything else. Good thing she hadn’t put them back. She grabbed a bottle with the same label she had seen the girl pick, but the conditioner version, and tensely walked over to the stall.

“Here ya go.” She said as she set it on the floor below the stall door.

“Thanks so much.”

“So, I never did get your name.”

“It’s Sterling. You?”

“Alex.”

“Well, thank you Alex. For everything. I’ll be done in a minute.” Sterling said while grabbing the bottle off the floor.

“Alright, I’ll be in the other room if you need me.” Alex said as she made her way back into the other room. She began putting all the products back into the large cabinet on the opposite wall. She never really asked why the boys had so many bathing products in here but didn’t think it was that big of a deal to ask. Especially with the way Sam and Dean were handling the loss of Castiel and Jack. As the pile of products became less than a few bottles of soap she heard light wet footsteps come up from behind her. She turned to find Sterling with a slightly damp towel wrapped around her, reading the back of one of the bottles.

“Feel better?” Alex asked while smiling, the woman looked so much better now although her face seemed a touch gaunt.

“Much. Thank you.” Sterling breathed as she looked up at the smiling Alex and set down the bottle back on the bench. “Look, Alex.” She grabbed her long red wet hair and pulled it over her shoulder to better control the weight of it. “I really wanna say thank you for all you’ve done for me the past few weeks. And um… I really appreciate you guys stopping for me back there.”

Alex shook her head at her, “Not at all. I’m just so glad to see you awake and walking around. We were honestly starting to get worried.”

“I bet.” Sterling chuckled. “What a frightening way to wake up huh?” she laughed.

“No kidding.” Alex laughed back. They laughed for a second before Alex started going through the available clothes that Jody and Donna had gotten for Sterling in the hopes she would wake up.

“So, what’s been going on since I was out?” Sterling asked already knowing the answers.

“Well, the day you went under… um. The sun came back.”

“WHAT?! No way!” Sterling faked shock really well, she’d gotten good at it in her formative years. “How?”

“Don’t know. Even Sam and Dean aren’t sure themselves.” Alex replied not realizing Sterling may not know who those two are.

“And they are?” Sterling leaded.

“Oh right! You haven’t met everyone. Well let’s get you dressed and fed, and I’ll introduce you to everyone.” Alex replied jovially while grabbing a shirt and pair of jeans she thought the woman would like. Sterling honestly couldn’t care much about the clothes, so she took what was handed to her and walked over to a changing stall to don her new outfit. _“Much better than that gawdy gown at least.”_ She chuckled to herself. When she finished dressing, she stepped out of the stall, Alex gave a slight sigh of relief of seeing Sterling out of a gown and in something more familiar.

“Right. Well, let’s go meet these folks.” Sterling stated while holding her arm out allowing Alex to lead the way. Her wet hair leaving a large wet mark on her shirt, she subconsciously made the drying process move just a bit faster. Sterling already knew the layout, but she knew she had to act, for now. Her wet hair leaving a large wet mark on her shirt, she subconsciously made the drying process work just a bit faster.

As they made their way down the winding halls of the Bunker toward the war room, where Alex correctly assumed everyone would be eating and resting, there was some loud shouting going on and lots of yelling that she couldn’t quite make out.

“Sounds like a party.” Sterling chuckled, she already figured out the cause of the jovial sounds emanating from the room they were heading to but didn’t want to spoil the surprise.

Alex picked up the pace a bit rounding the corners faster and faster to get there quickly. As soon as she entered the war room she gasped in shock and ran to hug the two people who were a sight for sore eyes.

Jack and Castiel welcomed her with open arms and gave slight chuckles. They both looked drained and that they needed a few months of sleep, but happy to be back where they belong. She stepped back out of their embrace and held her ground in front of them for a moment.

“Don’t you boys scare us like that!” She shouted while joking, trying to hide the tears of relief that were threatening to form.

“We didn’t mean to.” Jack joked back.

Alex glanced at Dean who was sitting on the edge of the center table directly in front of Cas and Jack, he looked like a kid who got exactly what they wanted for Christmas. Sam was right next to him standing wearing a huge grin as well with his arms crossed on his chest. The girls were all huddled around Castiel and Jack giving them pats on the back and smiling, while welcoming them back from wherever.

“Just how long were we gone?” asked Castiel while figuring it must’ve been quite a while.

“Three damn long weeks.” Dean sighed.

“That long?” Jack asked while looking to Castiel for answers.

Castiel pinched the middle of his furrowing brow as he realized something. Everyone looked at him expectantly, realizing all eyes were on him he sighed.

“The Observatory alters time and space while we were in it as it was activated, we were there only for a few minutes, but on earth it was three weeks.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s this Observatory?” Dean asked, slightly confused.

“It’s a device created by _Chuck_ that allows angels to search the universe for him or anything else they need. Didn’t really help in finding him though. We used it to search for Amara.” Castiel finished.

“And?” Sam inquired further. “Did you?”

“Well…” Castiel started, trying to find the right words so that everyone would understand.

_Three weeks ago, in Heaven._

As soon as Naomi got to three they both grabbed the two rods and began pouring little by little their grace. As Naomi predicted Jacks’ Nephilim grace was more powerful than any archangels’, even the little wisps he was giving was more than enough to start up the Observatory. As it hummed with power the white rounded walls in the room Castiel was in, started darkening. Soon they became inky black with white spots scattered all over. After blinking for a few seconds Jack realized they were looking at stars and constellations. Castiel stood in the center as if floating in space. His eyes were closed tightly as if he was focusing on something. Jack wanted to join him in the center to gaze at the stars that were twinkling all around him. He glanced over at Naomi whose face was tense with focus, most likely on the ebb and flow of her grace. But it didn’t seem to bother Jack hardly at all, and he was only releasing enough to heal a wound on a human. The Observatory’s hum started to weaken and the sight of Castiel floating in space was flickering on and off. Jack upon noticing this starting feeding more and more of his grace into the core. He decided to just focus on his grace output and let Castiel tell him how it looked later.

Castiel threw his consciousness into the Observatory as he did long ago once and used his remaining memory of Amara as a guide through the universe. It was a rough start at first, there was some light flickering at the beginning, but it seemed to sort itself out quick enough. He used every fiber of his being to sense Amaras’ presence, it first started on Earth, likely when she and _Chuck_ finally made up. It then drifted far away from the Milky Way galaxy into the vastness of space, areas where no stars or planets even called home. The view was breathtaking, the sight evoked some past memories he thought he had forgotten. But there was a job to do, he couldn’t reminisce on something so trivial when Jack is being used as a literal battery. He followed her sense until he came upon an expansive vast universe that dwarfed all others, if you combined all the closest universes and galaxies to the Milky Way together, it would not even be a sixteenth of the one Castiel was trying to make sense of. He focused as hard as he could, floating at the edge of it, he didn’t want to get lost in all that was there, or he may never find himself. Once he was able to grasp which direction her path seemed to take, he followed as quick as he could, never pausing or stopping to take in the scenery. As he followed he realized it was getting closer and closer to a certain area he took note of that was devoid of much other than a massive black hole, but before he could confirm whether that was the direction it was going in or not he was jolted back to his body.

His eyes shot open and as he turned to look at Jack and Naomi his heart sank instantly. Jack, while still holding on to the core was shouting and screaming at Naomi who had collapsed on the ground on her side while still holding onto the core above her.

“LET GO! NAOMI LET GO OF IT!” Jack was panicking, he wasn’t sure if he should let go of his core. What would it do if he did? Will it hurt everyone? Will it kill everyone?

“JACK LET GO!” Castiel shouted as loud as he could. “IT’LL SHUT OFF AUTOMATICALLY!”

Jack jerked back in shock at Castiel suddenly shouting at him when he was silently standing there a moment ago. Without a second thought Jack released his grip on the core and immediately grabbed Naomi’s hand and removed it from her core. Her arm fell limply to the floor in front of her face. Once both cores were left alone Castiel was free to move as he pleased, and he very much pleased to run into the operational room and assist Jack in waking up Naomi.

“I don’t know what to do, she just…” Jack was crying, scared and felt like it was all his fault.

“It’s alright, she’s still alive. Just what did she do?” Castiel asked himself aloud as he looked at the controls on the wall to make sense of it all. He flicked back and forth from her wall to Jacks’ and gasped, then rolled his eyes. He knelt down in front of her to get close to her face, she was awake, kind of. He grabbed both shoulders and raised her up to rest her back on the wall, forcing her to sit up. Her head was lolling from one shoulder to the other as she was fighting unconsciousness. Castiel snapped his fingers in front of her face to try to wake her up a bit. It seemed to do something as she jerked a bit at the sudden noises and movement in front of her. After a few moments of her falling in and out she started coming around when Jack and Castiel sat on the floor in front of her.

“Wha…?” She swallowed, “What happened? Did you find her?” she asked groggily.

“Almost. And you almost died.” He scolded

“Don’t be dramatic Castiel. Everything went fine. Jack how are you?” Naomi asked slowly, still getting a feel for talking again. Her eyelids were quite heavy but she managed to get a good look at Jack who seemed gloomy.

“I’m fine. What happened to you?” he breathed trying to gather himself. “I thought you…”

“She stupidly set the Observatory to mainly pull her grace and only take from you what is absolutely necessary. What she can’t seem to remember is this thing doesn’t have an off switch and will continue to pull everything from you until you have nothing left.” He finished angrily.

“Worked though, didn’t it?” she halfheartedly chuckled. She was too tired for this kind of confrontation. She blinked slowly and opened to find Castiel laughing despite him truly not wanting to at the moment.

“Well, I was able to get a general location.” He chuckled. “In a universe I don’t remember being a part of.”

“Huh. Describe it, maybe it’ll jog something.” Naomi was curious now, a universe even he doesn’t remember. Intriguing, to say the least.

“It was massive, and I mean if you mashed all the universes around us and then some it wouldn’t even be a pinprick to what I saw.” His eyes went from wide with disbelief to curiosity.

Naomi thought about it for a second but could find no memory of a universe of that description. “Well, at least you have it in your minds’ eye.” She stated, seeming to give up on thinking about space for a while, her exhaustion being the main reason.

“I don’t know what that will solve but if I talk with Sam, Dean and Rowena we might be able to come up with something.” Castiel thought out loud.

“Sounds like a plan. Now, help me get up so I can find the nearest bed to pass out in.” Naomi ordered.

“Alright, will Heaven be alright with you like this?” Castiel asked with a face of concern as he hefted her to her feet, carrying her weight on his shoulders.

“It’s still here isn’t it?” She chuckled, it shocked her as well. Maybe it was due to their existence in Heaven. She couldn’t be bothered to think about it too much.

While Castiel and Jack carried her out of the Observatory toward the throne room again she searched inside herself and sighed with relief. She had quite a bit of grace left, enough to keep Heaven running, albeit with the lights still flickering and all. But it wouldn’t fall with her still here, not if she had anything to say about it. Castiel found a long sofa along the wall in the throne room that had Naomi’s name on it. After gently sitting her down on it she wasted no time and curled up on her side taking up the majority of the seating space. She looked up at Castiel with one eye as he looked on her with pity.

“Oh, get out of here. I’ll be fine. You have a mission now Castiel.” Naomi smiled sleepily as she closed her eye letting the spinning room cease to exist. She heard him chuckle and felt the warm pressure of a hand on her arm.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“Jusst be careffull.” She slurred as she felt sleepiness sink in deeper and deeper. She meant to tell him something about the Observatory, but it was lost in a sea of drowsiness. As the warmth of the hand left her, she still felt content with this, with everything so far.

_I still have faith._

Castiel turned to Jack who looked more relaxed now that no one was in the process of dying. Castiel pulled him into an embrace to help ease the tension a bit and to help Jack understand that he would be there for him. Jack was taken aback at first but leaned into it and gripped Castiel tight holding onto him for a few precious seconds, relishing in the warmth and comfort Castiel was providing. They broke the hug as both of them took a sigh of relief, things could have gone way worse and both of them knew it.

“Let’s get you home.” Castiel placed a hand on Jacks’ shoulder as Jack prepared to transfer them home.

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Jack asked.

“She’ll be fine. She’s always been a tough one.” Castiel affirmed taking one last glance at her as Jack instantly brought them into the war room of the Bunker.

Dean was staring intently at a certain spot on the floor while Castiel was recounting their adventures in Heaven and the information of the possible location of Amara. After he felt he had sufficiently bored a hole in the floor with his eyes he looked around the room at everyone taking it all in and thinking about what this might mean. Rowena particularly was fishing through one of her massive tomes already trying to possibly find a spell that could aid them in pinpointing her exact location. Dean glanced behind him to find the strange woman seated with her legs propped up on the table wolfing down a sandwich while seeming to enjoy the goings on in front of her. Her long red curly locks fully dried and cascaded around her face and over shoulder. He cursed himself under his breath, he had completely forgotten about her and what this kind of revelation could do to her.

“And who do we have the pleasure of sharing all this information with?” he asked, shaking everyone from the depths of thought to reality were the strange woman was most likely feeling alien here.

“Name’s Sterling. Quite a cast of characters you have here, Mr…” she said with a mouthful of sandwich.

“Winchester, but you can call me Dean.” He pointed to Sam, “This is my brother Sam. And the lovely ladies around us are Jody, Donna, Rowena who is the bookworm, Claire, and Alex who you already know. These two are Jack and Cas.” Dean pointed along with every name he said to their corresponding person as he named them off quickly but going slow enough for her to attempt to retain all the names being thrown at her.

“I’ve got no clue what is going on, but it seems the two of you are back from something quite daunting by the sounds of it.” She chuckled while taking another bite of her sandwich. “So, um…” she swallowed after chewing for a few seconds. “Dean? Was it?” she pointed at Dean.

“Yep.”

She lowered her feet off the table and sat up in her chair while finishing her square of a sandwich. “Cool, cool. Um… What is going on here exactly?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gotcha didn't I?! jk I really didn't mean to leave it at a cliffhanger last chapter. So, yea. Sorry for that. I hate that shit personally.  
But I'll tell you what this one felt like it was gonna go on forever.... and ever... and ever... and ever...  
Sweet potato chips are my latest addiction. Holy F are they delish!
> 
> I legit leave notes/comments on my word document to remind me of stuff so that I don't fuck myself over later with the plot. Stick around to see one of them later....possibly next chapter. ;)


	5. Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter lightly covers the three weeks Sterling, Cas, and Jack have been absent for.  
An old and terrifying face has reemerged, but the nature in which they previously operated has done a total 180.  
Sterling is more of a smartass and a clever gurl in this one.  
No gore or anything super triggering in this one... I think...
> 
> We still haven't started yet. ;)

When Dean woke up, he went immediately into the war room, waited for a few mins then slunk away into the kitchen to get his morning dose of caffeine infused whiskey. Sam soon popped in sporting his normal bedhead before running his hands through it only once, correcting any stray strands thereby making his hair perfect for the rest of the day.

“Anything yet?” Sam asked as he lazily poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Nope.” Dean sipped his whiskey coffee trying not to show his unease.

“It’s only day three, don’t worry too much. At least we got the Wi-Fi up and running yesterday.” Sam raised his cup as a salute to a job well done for yesterday’s accomplishments. They had to run out into the nearest town and shop to “buy” a new router and there was surprisingly hardly any undead and people were almost going about their days as normal as they could. Some roads were closed or buildings with boards and chains on them with bright red spray paint as a warning to all to leave this building well enough alone.

“Phones are working.” Dean mumbled as he raised his in a flash as if he could show the connectivity.

“Really? When was that?” Sam hurriedly asked as he pulled his out of his pajama pants.

“Around…” Dean paused as he took a sip and tried to come up with a good time that didn’t indicate he really didn’t sleep well. “three?” Seemed reasonable. “Some texts hit me last night and woke me up. Must’ve been a backlog.” _Safe._

“Holy cow. Yea I’ve got quite a few myself. Wonder if the news is back on too.” Sam thought out loud as he sat across from Dean and fiddled with his phone to pull up some news stations that were still broadcasting. He pulled up a live broadcast from a local station somewhere in Kansas.

_“…military officials ask that all those who are seeking asylum from highly populated areas to please contact their local office to ask for their zones’ evacuation location, and to not leave without verifying with authorities…”_

Sam switched to a more prominent station that covered the central US.

_“…still seeing that the undead are being isolated off into specific areas of cities and towns where they are easily contained. Officials are still unsure as to how they are going to deal with them once they’ve corralled all of them into certain locations. Local and state authorities are still meeting to find an answer to that question. Back to you Bill.”_

_“Today in other news there has been a surge in reports of things other than the undead causing unrest in densely populated cities to the fields in Oklahoma, reports range anywhere between vampires to werewolves. Whether these stories are valid or mere hysteria from the outbreak of undead is unknown but there will be more information to follow soon as the President has made a decision to formally address the country in this trying time. Now we’ll go to Bob for a quick look at the weather, Bob?”_

“Jeezits. All hell broke loose. Literally.” Dean sighed.

“No kidding. I’ll fish through some of these reports and figure out what’s solid.”

“I’ll help in a minute I’mma get some breakfast going for the girls. Jody and Donna mentioned on heading back if things were good enough here, and that strange chick we picked up still hasn’t woken up yet.” Dean finished off his whiskey-coffee feeling a bit better and got up to start cooking his standard eggs and bacon.

“They did huh? Alright. I’ll be in the war room.” Sam checked for a nod of confirmation before leaving the room. Dean was starting to get that look of worry on his face, Sam knew he’d possibly have to keep an eye on him if Jack and Cas are gone for too long. Sam wasn’t quite worried, yet.

The smell of bacon woke up everyone else in the bunker calling Claire and Donna first from their slumber. As they entered the kitchen sniffing the air like hound dogs, they moaned in delight at the sight of two monstrous plates stacked high with maple smoked bacon. Claire was first to snatch a few strips before Dean caught her in the act.

“Hey, grab a plate. An empty one! Before diggin’ your hands in there. You two want eggs with your bacon?”

“Yes please!” Claire was nearly awake just from the joy of being offered food. Donna was still lazily and patiently waiting behind her for her share of breakfast. After Dean served both of them Jody and Alex groggily waltzed into the kitchen, after smelling the aroma wafting from the kitchen for a few minutes they could no longer keep their stomachs from moving their bodies. They both grabbed a plate, but Alex grabbed a second one. Dean noticed it first as Jody was still busy getting sleep out of her eye.

“Didn’t know you were that hungry Alex.” Dean poked.

“It’s not for me. Rowena.” She stated sleepily.

“Ah, taking a plate to Rowena? She still with that girl?”

“Yep.”

“Well, I’ll give her a bit more bacon.”

“Awww, I want more too.” Claire pipped up. Her plate was still full of bacon, she was most likely saving it for last so she could savor every strip.

“You’ll get more after everyone get’s their share!” Dean chuckled. “Last time I let you, you nearly ate all of the bacon I made.”

“A girl can’t help it.” Laughed Claire, showing no remorse for her past actions. Truth be told she’d do it again if she could.

“Mmhmm.” Sighed Dean as he finished serving Alex and began serving Jody who was still as groggy as when she entered.

Alex walked carefully with both plates of food as well as two mugs full of hot coffee, in her hands as she navigated the halls trying not to bump into the corners as she turned. She wasn’t quite awake yet for navigating with arms full of food precariously perched on either arm, but she managed to get to the infirmary with spilling only a splash or two of coffee.

“Morning Rowena. How’s the patient?” Alex announced as she entered.

“All’s well on my end. Or at least that’s what I think anyway. Oh! Here let me help you with those dear.” She shot up from her chair and carefully grabbed a plate and mug from Alex setting them down on top of a rolling metal trolley.

“Aw thank you love for breakfast, wait.” She looked at Alex as if the food may possibly be poisoned.

“Dean made it, don’t worry.” Alex chuckled, poor Sam.

“Ah, perfect. Thank you.” Rowena smiled as she plucked a few strips from the small pile on her plate and ate them daintily as she leafed through one of her tomes.

“Find anything on what’s going on out there?” Alex asked as she started in on her eggs.

“Well I did a quick scry and not much has changed in our area, funny how these things avoid this area altogether.”

“It is weird.” Alex affirmed.

“Phones and internet are back up according to Sam.”

“Really? I haven’t seen him this morning.” Alex pulled out her phone from her back pocket while taking a bite of bacon, verifying her information.

“He’s in the war room. Trying to worry himself further with any awful news from outside.” Rowena magicked her coffee with the creamer and amount of sugar she deemed perfect before taking a sip to make sure it was consistent.

“Doesn’t look good out there.” Alex confirmed as she stared into her phone while eating a forkful of eggs. “But what’s the textbook for?”

“Well,” Rowena started as she took another strip of bacon while turning another page. “Sam and Dean wondered if there was a spell to call or summon Amara.”

“And?” Alex inquired as she looked up from her phone in slight shock. She’d only heard about _God’s _sister.

“Nothing yet. I’m going to need my full library for this one. Those undead better not have touched anything.” She grumbled.

“Didn’t you ward your place or something.”

“I did, but you never know. Not with _The End_ happening.” She took a deep sip of her coffee infusing a bit of whiskey in it just to fortify her a bit. “Plus, I was hoping this one would wake up soon.” She gestured with her coffee cup toward the immobile stranger on the bed, slight sweat on her forehead glistening in the low light.

“You’ve closed her wound completely and she’s healed up really well. It may be too early for her to be up and about anyway. I’d give her a day or two and she should wake up.”

“Is that a bet?” Rowena perked up.

“Maybe.” Alex was sure in her skills of guessing these things but didn’t want to lead on Rowena.

“I’ll wager two days.” Rowena smirked.

“Three.” Alex stated flatly. “Ten bucks?”

“_Tch_… come now.”

“Fifty then?” Alex raising an eyebrow. High roller huh? This’ll be easy money. “And no spells to wake her up either.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal.” Rowena extended an empty hand toward Alex.

Alex took it swiftly and shook it firmly, she was definite in her deduction. Their little gambling scene was interrupted by Dean walking through the Infirmary with two plates full of food as he made a stop standing between Alex and Rowena.

“How’s Sleeping Beauty?” he joked.

“All healed up and doing well considering, she should be coming round a day or two more.” Rowena postulated toward Dean not giving any sign that a bet was made just now.

“Good. I’mma see how Sam’s dealing with the end of the world news. Keep me updated.” He called back as he headed toward the war room.

“Will do!” Alex and Rowena called after him.

They both went back to their breakfasts; Alex took to her phone to search for accurate news as Rowena continued searching for a clue for Amara.

Dean walked up to Sam who was deep into his laptop it seemed as if he fused with it. Dean set down Sam’s plate with a light tap and a fresh cup of coffee. “Chow time. What’s the latest?”

“Oh uh, thanks.” Sam grabbed his new cup of coffee and took a sip without really bothering to check if it was made the way he liked it. “A lot actually. It seems like a few of the ghosts, ghouls, or demons we kicked to the curb are back. I checked my email and the husband to that woman in white we dealt with way back in… pfftt.”

“You mean when I pulled you from college to help me look for dad?”

“Yea. She’s… back.”

“No way! What…”

“That’s not all.” Sam interrupted as he filtered through his email a bit. “The guy who we helped with the demon on that plane… um Jerry! Called me, leaving me a message about a plane that went down 40 minutes into the flight, the same way as the one we dealt with.”

“Holy shit.” Dean huffed as he crammed a few strips of bacon into his mouth.

“That’s not the worst of it.” Sam turned a bit pale as he spun the laptop around so Dean could see the screen. Dean nearly dropped his mug of coffee only managing to slap it down on the table, spilling quite a bit on its surface. Dean stared directly into the eyes of someone he never wanted to see topside again.

“Dick Roman? How’d he escape Purgatory?” He asked angrily. All those months, years spent in purgatory as a price for getting the leviathan off Earth and back into their “natural habitat” and seeing it all spat back in his face was infuriating to say the least.

“I don’t think they escaped.” Sam stated flatly.

“_Chuck_.” Dean cursed under his breath.

“I think…” Sam sighed, hoping against hope that he was wrong here, “he undid everything we’ve done.”

“You mean every monster or baddie we put away is back topside?” Dean was right angry now. “When it rains it freaking pours!” he shouted as he gripped the back of a chair with both hands.

“DAMN IT!”

As the broken pieces of the chair settled Sam rotated his laptop back to face him knowing this was definitely not a scenario either party thought was even possible. So the thought of doing it all again seemed like an even bigger leap than before. They lost people dear to them to get where they were, people who were lost to stupid mistakes or who sacrificed themselves to further the goal of a monster-free Earth. The thought of having to redo years of progress that was undone in the blink of an eye was an unbearable weight that seemed to only become heavier. Dean slumped in a chair in front of Sam not even glancing at his slightly untouched plate of now lukewarm breakfast. He rubbed his face with his hands as he took in the full weight of the situation and started to panic at the mere thought of tackling everything all over again.

“I’ll reach out to some folks I know and give them the 411 on leviathan and get in touch with anybody who may be able to lend us a hand in anything.” Sam stated, trying not to inflect any possible thought of grandeur or like he was getting his hopes up.

“Why bother?” Dean whispered.

“We can’t give up Dean. Not yet.” Sam didn’t close his laptop but pushed it to the side so that if anything serious popped up he could have eyes on it.

“_Chuck_ just reset everything. It’s like we weren’t even here.” Dean choked; he was trying not to break but things were starting to get too much.

“We’ve got Rowena looking for Amara and when Castiel and Jack get back we can figure something out. We can still do something Dean.”

Dean stood up from his chair and leaned on the backside of it for a minute letting his head dangle between his arms. He wasn’t quite giving up, but he was still listening. He was just so tired.

“Once we figure out how to contact Amara and get her input, we’ll figure out what to do then. So, for now…”

“For now we just do what we can? Hunt the same things that we’ve already dealt with before. And what about the leviathan? We can’t leave them alone. They’ll eat everyone before we can get to Amara. What then?” He raised his head showing his tired red eyes. “I just…” He stood up straight covering his mouth with his hand.

Then without another word he trudged back to his room. In anger? Defeat? Sadness? Sam wasn’t sure, but he was sure Dean would come around, he just needed some time. Sam looked at Dean’s plate of food and slid it over to himself taking a bit of the eggs and piling his mass of bacon onto Dean’s. He’ll want it soon enough. Sam ate his plate of eggs slowly with the laptop just in his periphery as he stared a hole in the wall across from him. There was going to be a lot of work to do, Sam just hoped Castiel and Jack would make it back soon. For Dean’s sake.

Jody and Donna decided to head back with Claire after spending the week in the Bunker, to make sure everyone in their area knew how to deal with what was going on. Giving everyone “The talk” was not Donna’s forte but she had no choice. Claire was more than happy in returning to the field now that there were more baddies to hunt, but Jody made it clear to her not to hunt alone. There were now more monsters than hunters than ever before. Alex called into the hospital saying she was dealing with a family emergency which they took very well and just asked to keep them updated when she could return. Alex was starting to worry since the stranger’s heart rate was not rising like it should at this point, indicating that she should awaken soon. Rowena was still searching for a spell to find the location of Amara, but on the side started searching for healing spells to try on the stranger, as Sam grew increasingly worried about Castiel and Jack.

A few days passed and Dean finally came out of his room looking for something to do as waiting around for Castiel and Jack was becoming more and more nerve-racking. Sam had a hunt lined up for both of them to do already. Rowena took to searching her library of tomes for a spell that detailed on calling or locating Amara. Alex was still by the strangers’ side tending to her, checking her pulse and giving shots of adrenaline as well as any method she could think of to try to wake her up. Nothing was working and she was becoming more and more frantic with each day that the stranger remained asleep in the bed.

The next week Sam and Dean went out nearly nonstop on hunts, mostly due to the influx of monsters, but also because Dean could not stand to be in the bunker for more than an hour before he wanted to start swinging at anything that resembled a monster. He would occasionally check in with Alex to see what state the stranger was in and what could possibly be the cause of her being out for this long. Alex couldn’t explain it and even reached out to a few mentors she knew and some in the professional field for an explanation. None of them could provide an answer that satisfied Alex. It just didn’t make sense unless, according to one of her psychiatrist friends, she experienced a severely traumatic situation and prefers to sleep than be awake. But even then, the patient would need to wake up for daily functions necessary for the human body. Alex exhausted every possible academic explanation and solution she could find before conceding to the fact that she could not do anything else.

Rowena was equally as perplexed as Alex and was starting to wonder if her healing spells had an adverse effect on the stranger. She started bringing over as many tomes as possible and filtering through as many as she could within the eight to nine hours Alex needed to sleep, shower, eat, before she had to resume in searching for something about Amara. Then Sam and Dean came back one evening to find Rowena searching deeply in one of her tomes of spells as they were seriously panicking about Castiel and Jack. She promised to search for a way to find or contact them as best she could. Needless to say, she had plenty of research on her hands.

The boys were hunting as well as gathering anything and everything needed in order to deal with the leviathans like before. The bone of a righteous mortal washed in the three bloods of the fallen. They figured it worked last time it should work this time same as before. They needed Castiel again just as before to make it work and finding a ruler of fallen humanity was daunting enough that it took a few days and multiple demon slayings before finally having a name to essentially get anywhere with.

A father of fallen beasts wasn’t too hard as the revived vampire alpha was surprisingly more than willing to give his blood to the brothers. “Good luck.” Was all he said to them before laughing them out of his manor. To him it was just one more obstacle off the board in order for him to complete his desire to turn as many as possible this time. He’d planned on getting to the boys later, he wanted to savor every ounce of pain he could derive from them, then when the time came, he’d do what he should have done years ago. For now, they’ll be his unwilling and unknowing pawns in his game.

As the things that crawled in the night became more numerous than before, the boys had covertly sent out a video detailing on how to deal with everything from flaming a ghost to just short of killing a leviathan. They weren’t comfortable showing their faces just yet, but Sam lent his voice to dub in on the video to go further into depth on how to deal with everything out there. Dean would chime in to lend some better information on a few things Sam wasn’t too sure about and clarify a few points.

Within a few days it was trending, then within the first week of posting it, viral. People started taking their word as gospel. Folks were curing family members of vampirism, trying to find a better solution for werewolves, and a whole host of other answers to problems that people would not have found if not for the video. Sam and Dean knew they couldn’t be there to save everyone, but they could spread some information so that people could help themselves the best they could during this trying time.

The following week Jody and Donna returned to the Bunker after hearing no word about Jack and Castiel. Sam was seriously starting to worry about Dean’s mental state as he was spiraling into more and more fits of rage than usual, nearly loosing himself completely in a hunt to rid the world of John Wayne Gacys’ ghost, again. It turned into a slaughter-fest when they came out of the house to an overwhelmingly monstrous group of undead that appeared from nowhere. Sam first called Jody to see if she could talk to Dean but instead of just talking over the phone, she knew she needed to see him face to face to assess for herself just how far off the reservation he was.

Donna called the boys a day later to ask for help in a simple matter that she knew she could deal with. She just wanted to see the boys as much as Jody did. After Sam and Dean helped her with the shapeshifter issue Donna drove behind them toward the Bunker, she also needed to resupply on items needed to deal with other creatures. Claire just wanted to see Sam and Dean again, as well as Alex who she was truly starting to miss, although she would never admit it.

Rowena and Alex, bet completely forgotten, were trying everything human and witchy possible to wake up the stranger. Rowena had resolved to just dive into the tomes she had at home rather than lug them back and forth, and instructed Alex to grip a charmed athame whenever she needs a break or if the stranger woke up. It would immediately teleport Rowena to that room as soon as it was touched.

Jody drove her truck into the garage that was hidden in the side of the Bunker while using her hands-free to talk to Alex inside.

“Alright I’m here. Just got in.”

“Be there in a moment.” Alex called.

“You sure, it’s not like I don’t know my way around in there.”

“I could use a bit of movement. I’ll help unpack.”

“Still hasn’t woken up huh?” Claire asked, interjecting herself into the conversation.

“No…” Alex grumbled as the sounds of her moving through the halls could be heard through the phone.

“Well we’ll see you in a few. Bye.” Jody said as she hung up the call with a press of a button on her steering wheel. As she did, she felt the odd feeling like something was going to happen, but she wasn’t sure if that was just caffeine jitters or if Rowena was hanging around nearby or something. As she parked the truck close to the door, she saw something dark in her side mirror. She twisted around in the drivers’ seat to get a better look from behind her. Nothing.

“Huh…” she thought aloud.

“What?” Claire probed.

“Nothing, thought I saw something.” Jody waved it off as just stress and started to open all the doors on the truck. Jody and Claire started unpacking certain goods that the Bunker was low on and Alex appeared to help. There wasn’t much but it was enough to fill the arms of all three of them. As they began the trek to the storeroom, they could hear muffled shuffling, as if a bunch of people were shuffling their feet in the hallway. Jody threw what she had in her arms into the room next to her, and unholstered her firearm.

“Get behind me Alex.” She ordered softly as she stepped in front of the somewhat confused girl.

“What’s…” but before Alex could finish her question a small group of undead came around the corner toward them shuffling slowly in their direction.

“Shit! Everyone back up toward the kitchen!” Jody cried out. She holstered her gun; it was no use in this situation.

They all shuffled back to the kitchen as fast as they could and armed themselves with any of the sharp implements that were available. Jody stood close to the doorway as the first defense, she would filter them toward Claire, and she would deal with any stragglers. Alex, who was not quite built for fighting stood in the back as the last line of defense should Claire need assistance. As Jody began laying into them, Claire was right behind her offering help in any way she could. Within a few minutes of starting Jody could hear someone shouting over the grumbling of the undead.

“BOYS?” she called.

“Girls, are you safe?” Jody could hear what sounded like Donna screaming from the other end.

“YEA, WE’RE ON OUR WAY!” Jody shouted as she felled two zombies to her right. She waved for Claire and Alex to start running toward Donna.

“How many have you got?” Called Sam from the distance.

“ONLY SIX LEFT HERE!” She screamed back, stabbing another one in the knees as Alex was trying to squeeze past Jody and the wall.

“Dean is on his way to you!” Sam shouted.

_“‘Bout time.”_ Thought Jody as she beheaded another one.

Alex was gone down the hallway already running at full speed while screaming.

“INFIRMARY!”

Jodys’ eyes widened as she remembered the incapacitated stranger in that particular room. She started hacking faster, then a sudden machete appeared above her shoulder and embedded itself in the head of an undead that was a little too close for comfort. Dean appeared on her other side and tackled the mass of zombies knocking them down like bowling pins. He shot up and jerked the machete out of its skull and began dismembering them one by one. Jody stepped back seeing he clearly needed to let off steam and checked on Claire who was watching him with a look of shock and concern on her face. They began helping in dismembering what was left before Dean took off at a run for the infirmary with Jody and Claire close behind him.

“And that’s where we are.” Dean finished.

Sterling wasn’t really listening to him as much as she was fishing through everyone else’s mind for all the memories of the past few weeks. Just getting a condensed version was never good enough for her. Her expression didn’t really change the whole time everyone shared their portion or two of the past few weeks. Some understated, others embellished theirs to no end.

Sterling swallowed a mouthful of water. Her feet were back up on top of the table crossed in front of her by the ankles. “And that’s where we are.” She parroted back.

“I know it’s a lot to take in right now…” Castiel started.

“You ain’t kidding!” Sterling chuckled finally making eye contact with him. His memories were a little too deep to dive into at the moment, but she did want to examine him closer. He was a deplorable sight to see, his wings, his being… she felt pity for him. It must have shown on her face as his expression changed from concern to confusion.

“Look, I appreciate everyone helping and dealing with me. And…” She paused trying to show that she’s still processing everything. It worked as the former angel backed off a bit. “I just need some time to think. On my own.”

“Do you have any family? Someone we can contact?” Sam pipped up.

_“Oh boy, don’t open that can.”_ Thought Sterling as she half-chuckled. “Not anymore.” She showed a pained smile and that seemed to quiet everyone.

“Is there a bathroom around here?” She broke the silence with a sniffle. Alex shot to life as she stood up and went to guide Sterling herself. “I don’t need an escort just tell me where, I can figure it out.” Sterling asserted.

“Down that hall five doors to your left.” Alex pointed hesitantly, but before she could make any other motion toward her, Sterling was already off. Sam and Rowena were giving each other secret looks of confusion and worry.

“Thank you, I’ll be back.” Sterling assured everyone as she walked quickly down the hallway. It was actually the sixth door, but she wasn’t going to fault the poor girl.

As Sterling entered the bathroom, she warded it quickly against any prying eyes and ears from listening.

“Alright Billie I know you were watching that mess.”

“I gotta say, you are quite the actor.” She said as she materialized. “So how much longer do we need to play pretend? In case you didn’t notice this world has been slowly burning for three weeks. I’ve searched everywhere I can within the limits of my abilities for Amara.”

“Yea, Castiel was able to zone in on a particular system.”

“No shit! Now what, want me to pop over there and…”

“No, something’s off…” Sterling interrupted. “That system that he described was the beta version of everything. I thought he destroyed it before I passed.”

“What do you mean beta version?” Billie asked as her impatience was rising.

Sterling stood in place pondering things as Billie sighed in frustration and crossed her arms waiting for some kind of response. Sterling stood in place for a moment winced in pain then continued pacing. Billie wanted to address it but figured she wouldn’t give an answer even if she asked.

“I’m more worried about these things they’re calling Leviathan, what are they?” Sterling thought out loud.

“Beings that _Chuck_ created before everything. Before angels.” Billie stated tersely.

Sterling stood in place and thought for a moment, then her eyes widened.

“What?” Billie asked genuinely concerned.

“I’ll explain later. For now, I’ll need to help them with something that just popped up and I’ll call you when we get done.” Sterling instructed quickly.

Billie stopped her from opening the door. “No, I’m done being your little errand girl. Tell me now or I’m done with you. You think you’re the only one with a plan here?”

“I can’t or it won’t work!” Sterling spun around and flashed Billie the eyes of angry determination. Billie jumped back a bit at the sudden change of character.

“I…” Sterling caught herself, “As much as I hate saying it, you’re just going to have to have faith.”

“In you?” Billie half-chuckled.

“I don’t like this any more than you do. Now I need to help them, and I’ll call you when it’s time, ok?” Sterling reaffirmed the situation waiting for a reply from Billie.

“Fine. I still don’t like this.” Billie stated flatly as she disappeared.

“Neither do I.” Sterling mumbled to herself as she slowly opened the door, ridding the room of the wards she put in place leaving no trace. She willed her face to look as if she cried a bit and her nose was full of runny snot. She opened the door tissue in hand, to find Alex and Rowena looking expectantly at her. They also seemed a bit shocked as if they didn’t expect her to open the door at that moment. A quick scan of Alex’s mind revealed they were trying to listen in. _I’m glad I put those wards on._ She thought as she cleared her throat.

“What’s up?” Sterling sniffled.

“Something came up on the news and we thought you should be there to see it.” Rowena recited almost like she was in a trance. Sterling could tell Rowena was anxious about her, that Sterling may or may not be human. She’d just have to up the acting factor a bit, nothing she hasn’t dealt with before.

They walked together into the war room with Alex right behind Sterling wanting to give her an arm or shoulder to cry on. Sam had a major news channel pulled up on the screen of his laptop facing out toward the middle of the table as everyone was on either side staring at it as if it was about to expend gifts to all those watching. Sterling still wiping away tears from her eyes stood at the opposite end of the table and looked at the laptop expectantly. She knew what was coming but dreaded it all the same.

Dick Roman’s face appeared onto the screen as he sat regally in a newsroom with all kinds of animation flashing and swirling on the screen around him. It began zooming out from his face to show his upper half of his body as she stared intently into the camera. Sterling knew what was coming and braced herself.

To keep up appearances she showed confusion on her face and pointed to the screen while looking at Alex as she asked “Isn’t that Dick Roman? That one politician guy that disappeared or whatever?” Alex nodded and looked back to the screen. It cut to a young blonde news reporter sitting across from him holding some papers, as she began the dialog.

_“Good afternoon everyone, I’m Katherine and I’m joined here today with previous presidential campaign runner Dick Roman. How are you today Mr. Roman?”_

_“Please, call me Dick.” _He smiled._ “I’m doing very well thank you.”_

_“Glad to hear it Dick, and I’m happy to see you back on the scene. There was quite the gossip going around that you had died while you were campaigning. I’m happy to see that is simply not true.” _She chuckled.

_“Oh, yea you know fake news and all_.” He waved off the thought of him being dead.

_“So, what happened to you during the campaign? You very much fell off the face of the Earth.”_ She chuckled nervously.

_“Well, I needed some time in order to deal with some private family matters that took precedence over the campaign. There was a death in the family that was a big blow for us, and I needed time to sort through some things.”_ His face changed from that of the seriously creepy guy from seconds ago to one that utterly looked as if he did indeed go through something traumatic. Dean wondered if it was the bone he shoved through his neck, and if he remembered the feel of it. _He’s gonna feel it again soon, that’s for damn sure._

_“But now that I’ve had some time to grieve and look within myself for the answers I was looking for, I’ve realized something Katherine.”_

Katherines’ face was a little shaken up as if this was more off script than she initially thought. _“And what would that be?”_ she smiled anxiously.

_“I don’t need to put on an act anymore. I can truly be myself now. I have no desire to return to the being I used to be. Sad, bored, annoyed, angry. I have no need to feel those emotions anymore. Not when I can take what I want.” _He went to reach for Katherine’s hand, but she pulled it off the desk and covered her retreat as a need to filter through some of the paperwork she was clinging onto for her life. His intimidation factor shot up ten-fold as he stood up at her rejection. She shot up also as a way to escape the situation and turned to call for security, but before a sound could escape her lips, she was pulled back to face Dick as he swallowed her instantly… on live tv.

He licked his lips as the camera was visibly shaking from the operator who was most likely shitting himself, but felt he wasn’t allowed to leave as Dick’s eyes focused on him for a fraction of a second before returning to the camera.

_“Be seeing ya.”_ Dick said as he gave a saucy wink to the camera and walked off screen. That wasn’t for the general population, Sam and Dean knew that was a message for them. It was a little tease for them to _come find me_. The room gave a collective sigh.

The news channel instantly went into technical difficulties screensaver mode as Sam finally sat down in a chair near the laptop. Sterling was gripping the back of a chair so tight the metal was starting to bend under the pressure before she took a deep breath and released the groaning metal. She looked around at everyone in the room who were collectively shitting themselves in their mind.

“What do we do?” Sterling asked looking at Sam and Dean who were mostly still trying to retain their fury at the situation. She hated to probe even though she already knew the past history, but her “character” had to be believable, especially when two of them are starting to question already.

“What did he mean by that? Just what the Hell is he?!” She was using the inner anger as an excellent catalyst toward sounding panicked. If Billie was watching, she would have been impressed.

“He’s a Leviathan. They’re super old creatures from before even angels were created. _God_ created them first then tucked them away into a place called Purgatory where they’ve been for Centuries. Until…” Sam hesitated, he didn’t want to point fingers but definitely didn’t feel like opening up that wound on Castiel. He’d just come back damn it.

“Until I released them and used myself as a conduit of their collective power. I sought to use them as a means to correct many wrongs. But my hubris got the better of me and they were released onto the Earth.” Castiel finished for him. He wasn’t the same angel he was before; he took responsibility for his past mistakes. He knew he made plenty. Sam gave him a look of pity as he wanted to console Cas, but he was interrupted by Sterling who was more into answers. Even answers she already knew but still had to ask.

“So, how do we deal with them?” She leaned on the back of the chair again, fully committed to see this thing through.

“We? Whoa, look lady I know you think you’re tough, but these things are not unthinking walking zombies. They’re highly intelligent and damn near impossible to kill. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you also just woke up.” Dean perked up, he was really starting to like her gumption.

“Alright well, I want to help.” Sterling stood firm knowing she was about to get backlash.

“Cool it there Leroy Jenkins, we’ll let ya help once you’re cleared for duty by Alex.” Dean stood immovable in his decision.

Alex jolted at her name being mentioned, she was so deep into her own mind that she wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on around her. “Wait, what? I’ll do what now?”

“Clear her for duty.” Dean stated again.

“Oh uh, alright.” Alex replied still visibly shaken.

“We’ll let you know when we’re ready to move. You just rest up until then.” Dean looked into Sterling’s eyes as a means to further imply that he was the boss here. Sterling was willing to humor him, for just a little longer.

“Sounds good.” Sterling nodded and sat down in the chair she was leaning on as a way to show she was willing to do what was needed. This seemed to put Dean a bit at ease as she started looking around the room more to find not everyone was enthusiastic about the current situation they were in.

“Alright look. We have the weapon needed to “kill” Dick and send his buddies back to purgatory.” Dean informed flatly as everyone gave a slight gasp at the news.

“Wait, how did you acquire the blood needed for it when…” Castiel started a barrage of questions but before he could finish Sam interjected.

“We’ve gotten all the blood we need but we were waiting for you.” Sam said coolly.

“Ah, I see. I’m sorry it took so long to…”

“Don’t apologize. We know it wasn’t your fault.” Sam interrupted. “Plus, you have a hint of a location of Amara. That’s something we can work with.” He smiled as he redirected the current topic.

Castiel smiled back but still felt guilty for failing to realize just how long he was gone, and how the Observatory affected time.

“_You and me both pal.”_ Thought Sterling as She was reveling in the cascade of emotions flowing from them at that moment. Love, sense of family, sense of belonging. She was remembering a similar feeling from long ago but stopped herself from delving too deep as she felt eyes on her. Rowena was still giving her looks of uncertainty, this was going to be a tough one.

“So, once we form a plan to take out Dick and his entourage, we’ll need everyone’s help on this. We don’t want anyone going Rambo.” Dean announced.

“Speak for yourself.” Interjected Rowena with a scoff.

“Alright, so everyone just hang tight for a bit. Got it?” Sam asked loudly.

The room gave a collective “Yes” that was lacking in energy, but everyone knew how dire the situation was. Everyone started going their separate ways leaving Sterling, Alex, and Rowena alone in the war room. Alex was still deep in thought on the situation and Rowena was torn between focusing attention on finding a spell for locating or speaking to Amara and trying to unwrap the feeling of mystery from Sterling who was sitting in the chair staring up at the ceiling in thought. In reality, Sterling was searching for the exact location of Dick Roman, she found him in 2.5 seconds. Not a record by any longshot but at least she could see where he was at that moment. Apparently, he was on the west coast in a city called L.A. just as he was leaving the news station he was broadcasting from. Humans give the strangest names for places and things. Sterling got up quickly from her seat which spooked Alex and Rowena a bit and she gave an apologetic wave of her hand toward them.

“Sorry, I’m uh… is there a bed that’s available that isn’t in the uh…” She gestured toward the Infirmary.

“Oh yes! Absolutely, wait here and let me get some things and I’ll show you one you can have.” Alex bounced out of the war room feeling better now that she can direct her attention to something else.

Leaving Rowena and Sterling alone with an awkward silence between them. Rowena was content in focusing her attention on Sterling, but only with her periphery as she faked filtering through her tome of master-level spells. Sterling took interest in the tome seeing that the cover looked severely weathered while being stained a deep shade of red, and the ink seemed to be written in human blood. What was even more interesting was that she was able to read and decipher the text within just by glancing at it. _“What the hell?”_ She thought as her mind drifted to _Chuck_ and just what kind of influence did he use to make this actually tangible for creatures of this caliber to possess.

“Interesting book you have there. You can read this chicken-scratch?” Sterling joked.

“Yes, I can actually.” Rowena lied. Sterling feigned shock, _“Nice try witch.”_ She thought to herself.

“No shit!? That’s crazy, so you’re a witch huh?”

“I am. Something wrong with that?” Rowena was starting to judge her a bit.

“Hell no. I think women should be allowed to assert their dominance.” Sterling said, knowing that would win her over.

It did.

Rowena gave a wide smile and pulled her fake attention from the book to look Sterling in the eyes. “What did you say your name was again love?”

“Sterling, and yours was….” She put a had to her head as if searching, “Row… Rowena? Am I right?”

“You are, I’m quite impressed you remember. With all that’s going on.” Rowena gave a gentle gesture to everything in existence, if there could be such a gesture.

“I tend to stick better to people and things that are in front of me and I can affect. Or help, really. Names can be funny sometimes though; I’ll remember some and forget them if I don’t see the person again for a while.” Sterling said as she sat on the end of the table facing Rowena.

“So, Sterling. What do you do?” Rowena had completely closed the book, but left it resting in her lap.

“Well I was in the military for a number of years…”

“Doing what?”

“Eh, if I told you, I’d have to kill you. Ah, but you’re a witch so I assume you have something for that.” Sterling chuckled knowing full well she in fact did and still does. “I did secret operations for the military, assassinations, insurgency stuff. Nothing light I’ll tell you that.”

“That explains the state you left the Infirmary in after those walkers paid you a visit.” Rowena pulled her body back a bit as she started to relax. She was falling back into believing Sterling was human, slowly.

“Knee jerk reaction really. Started having flashbacks when they grouped up on me.” Sterling floundered a bit to feign being vulnerable in that moment. “Sorry, that kind of stuff can bother people I didn’t mean to bog you down at all. Especially not after all this shit has hit the fan.” She moved to stand up.

Rowena placed a supportive hand on Sterling’s shoulder. _Jackpot._

“Not at all. A lot has happened since you’ve woken up. I appreciate you opening up to me, but you should really be careful. These kinds of monsters that are out there are worse than humans.” Rowena warned. At that moment Alex walked back into the room and made her way to the two.

“Not so sure about that.” Sterling joked. Rowena chuckled a bit knowing full well what she means. Alex cleared her throat a bit as a segue to move from whatever conversation she was interrupting to her presence.

“All ready?” Sterling glanced toward Alex as she gave Rowena a light pat on the shoulder.

“Yep, you?” Alex asked giving Rowena an apologetic look. Rowena waved it off, displaying that it didn’t bother her in the slightest.

“Yep, sleeping for three weeks can really tire a person.” Sterling joked as Alex began leading her to an unoccupied room. Sterling was able to hear a slight chuckle from Rowena as they left the room. _As the humans say it, hook, line, and sinker._ She smiled at her well-earned accomplishment. Alex twisted her head to the side to make sure Sterling was following her well enough.

“What’s so funny?” she inquired.

“Ah nothing, something a friend of mine once said.”

“Ah, well here you are.” Alex announced as they stood outside room number 8.

Alex opened the door with a free hand and walked in setting the items she was carrying on the desk next to the door. The room was small only housing a desk, bed, small chest of drawers, a nightstand and a chair. Sterling didn’t need light and could see every detail and atom if she looked hard enough, but Alex was human, so she flicked on the light.

“Ah thank you, much better.” Alex said as she turned to get a good look at the bed, making sure it was guest ready.

“Well it looks like you’re all set here. Let me know if you need anything.” Alex said as she started leaving.

“Alex?” Sterling stopped her in her tracks.

“Thanks again. For all your help. I really do appreciate it.” Sterling sighed, “I hope I can pay you back someday.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Alex smiled as she left, closing the door behind her on the way out. Leaving Sterling alone in the small but homey room. Sterling didn’t need sleep, so she took to sending herself out to look around a bit, but mostly to keep an eye on Dick Roman. As soon as she saw his true being, she felt sick and angry. _How could he?_ She thought to herself as she watched him all through the night travel from L.A. to Chicago.

_“I will see you soon, much sooner than you think._” Sterling thought to herself as she watched him like a daytime telenova.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long to post another chapter, debilitating depression can be a real bitch.  
I also have no clue how many chapters this is going to be...  
If you would like me to write more in-depth about the three weeks please leave a comment, and I may consider it. (I kind of already am, but I'm super unsure about it.)


	6. Beyond the Fall of Beauty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rowena tries to pry some answers from Sterling, literally. And there's a plan to take on Dick Roman. But will it go the way they think it will?  
I made them utilize something that I think should've been used in the show. IT WOULD'VE MADE LIFE EASIER FOR MEH BOIS!!
> 
> Couple uses of the F word in here just fyi.

Sterling was watching Dick Roman on his private jet as it was about to land in Chicago when she realized it was morning and the humans closest to her would likely wonder if she fell back into her coma. As she “woke up” she opened her eyes to an empty room, light was streaming from the gaps below and above the door. She glanced over at the clock that was silently ticking on her nightstand. 9:30 a.m. A decent hour to wake up she figured. She got up and almost opened the door to leave but realized she was still wearing the same clothes Alex had given her yesterday. She flicked her wrist and the clothes instantly changed into a different combination that she saw lying on the desk. Once she felt it was sufficient enough she opened her door with a creak and entered the brightly lit hallway.

Giggling and mild annoyance sounds from the kitchen were bouncing off the walls in a flurry of noise. Sterling focused for a second. Dean, Jack, Castiel, and Claire were in the kitchen. Sam was in the war room on his laptop, likely doing some research. Jody and Donna were in the garage checking on the door leading out. Alex and Rowena were in the Infirmary casually talking about the current situation outside and of course Sterling.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to pay Sam a visit, he was one of the two that needed convincing still. Apparently, Rowena texted him last night about their exchange, but he remained unconvinced. This one was going to be a tough cookie. As she began wandering down the hallway toward the war room she paid those in the kitchen a quick visit as well as to try this coffee that Sam was thinking about. She’d grab him a cup while there.

“Morning.” Sterling grumbled sleepily as she grasped an empty mug.

“Ah, morning there sleeping beauty. Glad to see you awake and up.” Dean announced as he placed a plate of eggs and bacon on the counter in front of him. “Get it while it’s hot.”

“Sorry I’m not much of a breakfast eater. Coffee is fine for me, thank you though.” Sterling gripped her mug letting the heat seep through her hands, it was mildly comforting.

“Hey, no problem. More bacon for me.” Dean chuckled as he glanced at Claire who was now looking at him with annoyance.

“Really Dean? You boob.” She turned her head back to her plate with a small stack of bacon left on it. She was savoring every strip as if it were her last.

“I’m not the boob.” He mumbled. “Hey if you’re heading toward the war room, could you bring Sam, a cup of coffee for me?” Dean gestured with his head at the coffee machine and gave her a smirk. She could tell he was putting on an act, inside he wanted to scream and cry about Dick Roman and the leviathans that were currently running amok. She gathered that Dean was a bit worried for Sam as he didn’t get his breakfast this morning and only turned on the coffee maker without actually making a cup.

“Want me to bring a plate to him?” Sterling asked as she filled another mug with coffee.

“No.” He looked down at the last batch of bacon he was cooking for breakfast. “He’s kinda like you in the morning, just coffee.” He lied.

“Ah, gotcha. Right, well. Thanks for the offer, I’ll let him know kitchen is still open if he wants something.” She said as she began leaving.

“Thanks.” Dean called out as she rounded the corner and was gone from sight.

As she entered the war room Sam was sleepily staring at his laptop, the bright screen lit up his face with a blue glow making him seem transfixed by the words and images he was scrolling up. His mind was an utter mess, thoughts of worry for Dean, the worry for the public as leviathans had no need to limit themselves this time and could go all out. His thoughts had no breaks between them, leaving hardly any room for him to pause and take a deep breath to allow himself to center himself in the moment. Sterling was tempted to make the laptop short out to give him a break but knew he would only spiral further downward. She settled on simply sitting in a chair next to him but far enough away not to let him take notice of her yet. She placed his cup of coffee near him and sat back in her chair sipping contently on her own cup. She could see why humans liked it so much, the bitterness along with a bit of flash of energy it gave was invigorating.

She watched as he scrolled down multiple news pages and different forum cites that allowed people to voice concerns, information, and speculation on many different subjects. But he was focused on anything Dick Roman related. Sterling took a quick second to check on his location, his plane had landed and was being taxied to a specific gate. She returned to find Sam still scrolling through another Dick Roman post that was leading nowhere. Then as the aroma of fresh coffee reached his tired mind, he absentmindedly grasped his cup of coffee and gingerly took a sip. Then after a moment of realizing he hadn’t brought a cup his eyes widened as he looked around then beside him at the slouching Sterling still nursing her cup of coffee.

“Morning there sunshine.” She chuckled.

“Eh, morning. When did you…” he started.

“Just a minute ago, you seemed so focused I didn’t want to bother you.” She giggled. His mind was flashing between embarrassment and slight worry of being alone with a possible non-human.

“Well, um… Thanks, for the coffee.” Sam stammered as he closed a few tabs on his laptop.

“Dean’s idea. I just wanted to check up and see where we’re at on finding Dick.” She sat up a bit in her chair as the surface of her coffee neared the bottom of her cup.

“Ah, well. Right now, I’m searching for any information on him, checking flags of movement like…” He moved a few windows to bring up an air traffic controller log. “His private jet left L.A. last night around midnight and he’s bound for Chicago. And…” He paused as a new line showed up below the one about departure. “He’s arrived. He arrived at the Chicago airport just now. So now I need to keep tabs on surveillance footage and police scanners…” he stopped realizing who he was talking to.

“Don’t worry I’m medically discharged from the military. And I’ve seen some real shit now, I’m in on whatever you guys are doing.” She looked him in the eyes. “If you go down, hell I’m going with you.”

“What did you used to do in the military?” Sam asked, now thoroughly into their conversation, fear and slight distrust still lingering a bit in his mind.

“Special operations, assassinations, insurgency stuff… stuff I’d normally have to kill you if I told you.” She chuckled. “But that all seems like child’s play compared to what you guys deal with.”

“No kidding.” Sam smirked, and his suspicion was slowly dissipating. “Our father used to be in the military.”

“No shit?! What branch?” She set down her now empty cup on the table.

“Marine, he was a Corporal.” He smirked. Sterling sensed love, loss, but also hope.

“Ah, a fighter. I see where you boys got your strength from.” She gave him a gentle tap on his elbow.

He chuckled a bit, “Our mom was a hunter, did the things we do now. She was quite the fighter herself.”

“A family that doesn’t quit. That’s a strong family if I’ve ever seen one. Better than…” She caught herself. _“No, don’t go there. Not yet.”_ Sam caught her expression of discomfort and sought to distract her.

“Ah, it’s ok. You don’t need to go into detail with me.” He clicked a few icons on the screen to open up new windows. They were small surveillance cameras all around the Chicago airport. He was flitting between one area and another searching for Dick Roman while keeping his periphery on Sterling. She was looking with him at all the windows on the screen, but she was gazing at them with hollow eyes.

“Look!” he gasped as he pointed to a small window on his screen. It displayed Dick Roman exiting the ramp from his plane into the main portion of the airport. People were staring and some were scurrying to vacate the area as fast as possible. Sterling’s eyes lit up at the sight of him, but with rage. Sam clicked a small icon in the corner of that particular window to expand the size of it to get a better visual. Dick Roman was chatting with a very nervous looking gate attendant as he waited for his entourage to accompany him. As several men and women in black suits and ties joined him, he left the shaking gate attendant to walk out into the main portion of the airport.

“Where are you heading?” Sam questioned aloud. Sterling wanted to dive into Dick Roman’s mind but felt that could take a good few minutes and she wasn’t sure if it would alert him to her presence. She decided to just go with the human route of dealing with this.

Dick and his groupies were traveling toward the exit of the airport, when a small group of people who looked armed and shielded by a layer of Kevlar, stood in the entranceway aiming the ends of their guns at the group of leviathans with Dick in the center.

“Oh no. No!” Sterling nearly shouted. Sam gripped the arms of his chair as he waited for the inevitable.

The men began firing, the flashes of the muzzles flickered on the screen as the group of leviathans stood solidly in place as if they weren’t being shot at. After they finished emptying a full clip into them, they began reloading, but were interrupted by three large leviathan men taking them and eating them whole. Leaving two left kneeling on the floor with their arms raised above their heads. Sterling wanted to consciously be there to be able to hear all that was being said. But knew it would leave her looking a bit strange to Sam who was between wanting to watch to see what would happen while dreading what he knew was coming.

Dick then approached the two men left and seemed to ask or say something to both of them. The mouths were not visible so Sterling wasn’t able to see what they may have said but judging by the lack of concern on Dick’s face she took it as something that was beneath him. He waved his hand as he turned around, as he did so two of the large men holding them ate them leaving only blood splatters on the floor. Dick looked around the airport at the cowering people around him and seemed to laugh as he waltzed out of the airport. Sam was furiously clicking boxes and cameras to keep up with him. There would be fewer cameras outside the airport, but he wanted to see if he could get a direction Dick may be going in. Sam was so focused on his task he didn’t notice Sterling was standing and watching him work the computer with eyes that were fit to explode the screen. He was watching Dick get into an awaiting limo when the limo seemed to deflate, and its sides began caving in on itself.

“What the hell?” Sam exclaimed as he tried to get a closer look at what was happening.

Sterling snapped out of her rage realizing what had happened. She watched the screen as Dick was pulled quickly from the limo with a face of utter shock and confusion. He shook himself from his henchmen’s grip and stood in front of his mangled limo studying every inch he could see. His men were trying to get him into another limo that was most likely previously going to be used as a decoy before the true one was crushed like an empty can of beer. Dick straightened his clothes, eyeing the distorted limo one last time before succumbing to his guards’ peas to get into the other vehicle. As soon as his body was fully inside the belly of the new limo it took off at a high speed out of the many airports exits.

Sterling shook her head of the realization she had just caused something to happen unintentionally. “What just happened?” she asked Sam who hadn’t taken a moment to look at her and was still transfixed on the crushed limo.

“I have no idea. It looked like the limo was crushed by something.” He was flitting through cameras again trying to find Dick’s remaining limo while leaving the crushed limo image open in a corner so he could keep an eye on it. “But which direction did he go?” As he clicked from camera to camera, he was becoming frantic as he could not find Dick’s limo.

“There!” Sterling announced pointing at a small box with a limo streaking from one corner to another as it traveled toward the interstate.

“He’s going west. I’ve got the plates. I’ll send out some stuff to some people I know in the area. Thanks...” He glanced up to see Sterling white-knuckled gripping the back of the chair she was previously sitting in, her face nearly flushed of all color as she seemed like she was in pain. “You alright?” Sam started to rise to assist her in case she passed out.

“I’m fine. Keep track of him, that bastard won’t get away with this.” Teeth gritted she pushed the chair in swiftly and stormed off towards the infirmary. Sam watched her as she left and for a moment, even he was scared of her. He continued watching the cameras until he couldn’t find the limo anymore and went back to the camera that still had the mangled limo in its view. The front portion of it was untouched but starting from the midsection it looked as if it had been crushed externally. The back was almost entirely crushed, if any normal human had been in there, they would have died.

Sterling stumbled into the hallway leaning her back against a wall to regain her senses a bit. “_Well that was uncalled for.”_ She thought as she took a few moments to ground herself as the stabbing shooting pain through her body subsided, enough. _“At least I can do that much so far…”_

The echo of faint footsteps was growing louder as Sterling pushed off the wall and straightened herself as if she hadn’t just tumbled out of a crazy situation. Dean rounded a corner at a lumbering pace carrying two full plates of food and a cup of coffee.

“Whoop, you okay there?” Dean called out pausing for only a moment as Sterling waved his concerns away with a smile.

“All good. You should definitely check up on your brother.” She gestured with a wave and a slightly dipping smile. “I’d give you the 411 but I think it’s best if you saw it for yourself.”

“What happened?” Dean was now picking up his pace a bit and was nearly on top of Sterling.

“Oh, you’ll see. Have you seen Alex and Rowena?” She started down the way he came as he turned slightly to gesture with an elbow.

“Infirmary.”

“Thanks.” Sterling began hoofing it toward the Infirmary, she needed to be ‘cleared’ for whatever was coming next, and judging by what she saw, it wasn’t going to be pretty.

As she passed the doorway into the Infirmary Rowena and Alex were sitting across from each other on opposite empty beds. Linens stark white compared to the scene Sterling last remembered the room being in. Rowena raised her head from behind Alex with a bright smile.

“G’morning Sterling. How’d you sleep?”

“Well enough, how about you ladies?”

“Perfectly fine.” Rowena lied with a smile.

“Not as well as I’d hoped.” Alex mumbled as she turned slowly to face Sterling. Her face was a touch pale and she had dark circles under her eyes.

“Thinking about yesterday?” Sterling prodded as she took a seat on the other side of the same bed as Alex.

Alex nodded while yawning and wiping sleep from her eye, Sterling guessed she’d gotten maybe two hours.

“Why don’t you go back to bed? I don’t think anything will happen today.”

“You don’t know these boys well enough yet.” Rowena chuckled. Alex gave a snickering snort at that.

“Not yet, but I made it clear I’m willing to assist in whatever way they need. Now that…” she stopped, thinking back to what just happened in the other room. “Look I want to help, Dean said I had to be cleared by you two before I can do anything. Well?” She raised her arms expectantly.

“No sense prolonging the inevitable. Alex will do the physical, I’ll do the metaphysical.” Rowena straightened out the creases and folds in her dress as she stood. Alex sleepily stood slowly from her resting spot on the bed.

“And then you go back to bed.” Sterling joked.

“I may take you up on that.” She yawned. “Now go over there and strip.” She stretched while pointing to a partition that provided privacy for undressing.

“I’ll wait here.” Rowena announced.

Without fuss Sterling walked briskly over and began disrobing as Alex lumbered her way over to her.

“Ready?”

“Yep, come on in.”

Alex stopped as she came within full view of Sterling standing stark naked and noticed something was quite off with what she was seeing.

“Huh, Rowena never said anything about the scar being fixed. Turn around for me.” Alex stepped closer and grabbed a nearby stool so that she could better inspect the region where the wound was previously. As Sterling spun all the way around to face her once more Alex wiped her eyes furiously with her fingers trying to dislodge any sleep that may have obstructed her vision. The horrid large scar that was previously gone returned in the same location, occupying the same amount of space, and displaying the same distorted color as what she remembered.

“I must be way more tired than I thought.” She jokingly mumbled.

She snapped on some blue rubber gloves and began exploring the skin surrounding the scar, it had hardened up and was not as elastic anymore. There were no more signs of pus, bleeding, or tenderness judging by the lack of reaction from Sterling from her prodding.

“Can you bend over and touch your toes?” Alex asked as she scooted back a bit to give Sterling some room. Sterling performed the desired task making Alex display a contented smile. “Does it pinch or sting at all when you do that?”

“Nope.”

“Awesome. Alright, twist your body at the waist for me.”

Sterling twisted in both directions a few times, letting Alex see that movement was not an issue.

“Perfect, how about crouching down to pick up that tray and giving it to me?” She pointed to a tray resting on the lowest shelf of a cart near them. Sterling squatted, grabbed the tray and stood handing the tray to Alex with no issue. Alex took the tray from Sterling while giving a contented smile.

“Alright you can get dressed now, I think I’ve seen all I need to. I’m going to let Rowena know you’re cleared on my end.” She hauled herself from the stool and left Sterling to get dressed. On the other side of the partition Rowena was leaning on the footrest of a bed with her arms crossed in front of her.

“Well?” she asked expectantly.

“All good on my end.” Alex yawned.

“We’ll see how she handles me then.” Rowena smirked.

“Go easy on her, she just woke up yesterday. I think she may be pushing herself too hard.” Alex started to take a seat on the nearest bed but was stopped by Rowena’s hand.

“It’s not _her_ I’m worried about.”

Alex looked quizzically into her eyes but before she could pry into that statement with any questions Sterling came around the other side of the partition and was already halfway to them.

“I’m worried about a certain someone who needs to get herself back to bed.” Rowena guided Alex toward the exit.

“You sure you don’t need me here?” Alex asked now a bit shaken.

“I’ll be perfectly fine dear, you head off to bed. We’ll catch up later.” She gave Alex a wink as she began giving her attention to Sterling.

“Alright then, that was a thing.” Alex muttered as she stumbled out of the Infirmary.

Sterling stood with her arms crossed as she awaited Rowena’s orders.

“Alright love, have a lie down right here.” Rowena removed the top cover and sheets of a bed nearest her, as she did Sterling was studying her and trying to gauge what this next part entails. Surprisingly she wasn’t able to gather much, as it seemed Rowena placed a few blockades within her. _“Clever girl.”_ Sterling stepped closer to the bed before she realized there was a circle drawn on the floor under the bed, it was clearly done in UV reactive paint. After taking a split moment to study it with her minds eye. _“Really clever girl… let’s see how this plays out.”_ As soon as she laid in the bed Rowena flicked off the lights on the wall behind her and flipped on a UV light at her feet pointed directly at the circle below.

“We having a rave now?” Sterling joked, to which Rowena gave a stern look. _“Don’t gotta be so sour about it…”_

“I’m going to ask you some questions, and you’re going to answer them truthfully. Understand?” Rowena stood over Sterling with her arms raised above her midsection.

“What’s going on?” Sterling asked seeming befuddled.

“I’m the one asking the questions got it?” her growl was coming across rather strong, so she took a breath to straighten herself before getting to the meat of what was bothering her.

“What are you?”

“I’m human.”

“That can’t be true…” she took a moment to glance at her circle job, everything was correct and in order. “Who are you really?”

“My name is Sterling, I am an ex-operative for the US government in where I carried out secret missions.”

“Where are you from?”

“I’m originally from Texas, though I have moved around a lot due to my profession.”

“What is your purpose here?” her frustrations were mounting higher and higher with each question.

“To serve to the best of my ability.”

“Do you have any kin?” anger was starting to seep out of her lips with every word.

“Two, but they no longer consider me kin.”

Rowena twitched as she was shocked at this answer.

“You said you no longer have kin when the girls saved you. Why do they not see you as kin?”

“They believed me to be dead, when one found out I was not he became scared of me. He no longer speaks to me.”

“Why do, or did, they believe you to be dead?”

“I had a terminal illness that made me abandon them at a rather young age. I didn’t want them to experience what I was going through.”

“Where are they now?”

“I only know the location of my son, I do not know where my daughter is.”

“Why do you want to help us?”

“I want to repay the kindness shown to me.”

“Do you feel guilty for leaving them… your children?”

“Yes.”

“Do you wish to find them?”

“…yes.” 

“Why do you want to find them?”

“I want to make it up to them. To fix what I broke.”

“Do you think helping us will find them?”

“I’m not sure.”

Rowena paused for a moment.

“Why do you _really_ want to help us?”

“I want to repay the kindness shown to me.”

The thing that Rowena didn’t realize is that while the circle was meant to draw out the truth from anyone or anything within, when you’re basically a God this circle doesn’t really work. But Sterling wanted to give her something, like a dog who needed a bone to chew on. She’d give her little bits of truth wrapped in lies, not that she enjoyed lying. Sterling feigned being compelled to answer truthfully, which seemed to work as Rowena was deep in thought on the answers she was receiving. Her arms lowered to her sides as she took in the information Sterling was feeding her.

Sterling glared up at Rowena who was enthralled with curiosity of her. After a few moments Rowena stepped away from the bed and turned off the UV lamp at her feet.

“I think that’s quite enough for now.” She said as she flicked back on the main lights. “Thank you for bearing with me. I just needed to make sure you…”

“I was someone who could be trusted?” Sterling finished as she moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “Next time why don’t you try just asking me questions straight to my face? Rather than whatever the hell that was?” Anger seethed in her words as she rose from the bed staring straight into Rowena’s eyes. Sterling’s glare was strong and never faltered as she stepped within inches of her. “Is there anything else you want to pry from me?”

“N-no. Look…”

“Good.” Sterling hissed as she stormed out of the Infirmary, leaving Rowena stunned in place.

She didn’t mean to get that angry, not like that. Sterling knew she was not actually bound by the circle to answer her and could have told her to fuck off if she wanted. But the line of questions Rowena was asking was bothering her more than she’d like to admit. As Sterling entered the war room again, everyone except Alex and Rowena were in the room. As she stepped in everyone had stopped what they were doing and were looking at her as if she had pissed in the milk that morning.

“Am I interrupting something?” Sterling asked hesitantly. She took a quick peek at the minds in the room, Sam had only showed them the part where Dick Roman had the group of armed humans eaten in public.

“No, sorry… we um.” Sam was standing in front of his laptop. Which was turned toward Jody, Claire, and Donna, who were seated on the opposite side of the table. “We were just talking about the next steps to deal with Dick.”

“And those steps would be?” Sterling asked as she took an empty seat a fair distance from everyone.

“Look.” Sam started. “We appreciate your will to help us. Really, we do. But…”

“But we just don’t know you.” Dean finished. He was standing with his back toward everyone staring at a map of the US. “Plus, you just woke up yesterday from a three week coma.” Dean turned. “Maybe you need to take some time to heal?” he asked as he nodded to the newest addition to the room. “Verdict?”

“She’s been cleared by Alex and I.” Rowena’s voice cracked a touch. Sterling didn’t turn around to look at her but guessed by the way she sounded she was still broken up from how her little séance concluded.

“So, she’s good? Really?” Dean scoffed. More than a bit surprised at the news.

“Yes.”

“Rowena can I talk to you?” Sam walked cautiously to her. “Privately?”

“Of course Sam.”

“We’ll be a moment.” Sam gave Dean a quick smirk that was a sad attempt to cover up his mounting anxiety. They both left the war room toward the kitchen as Dean took a seat in the chair in front of him.

“Well that’s not weird.” He joked. His attention turned back to Sterling. “So, where you from?”

Sam gave a quick glance around the kitchen to make sure no one was around for what was sure to be enlightening news. Rowena sighed at his attempt to make this seem not as weird as it looked, and she snapped her fingers to get his attention.

“We’re alone, Alex went to bed and everyone else is in the war room.”

“Alright, so tell me…” he sat in one of the chairs while motioning Rowena to sit in the opposite one across from him. “How’d it go?”

“Well,” She sighed, she didn’t quite feel ready to relay everything as she was still recovering mentally. “She’s not a demon, angel, or monster of any kind. She’s human as far as I can tell…” she drifted off in thought for a moment before seeing Sam’s impatience starting to bore through her. “She worked for the government doing secret stuff, she has two children, both of which believed her to be dead until her son found out otherwise. He refuses to talk to her. She left them due to a terminal illness when they were still young… what else…” she paused. She was still trying to sort it all out herself when Sam’s impatience got the better of him.

“Are you sure she’s someone she says she is?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

“Is she someone we can trust?”

“Sam, I can’t answer that with just questioning her.”

“Yea I get that but…” Sam expelled some of his anxiety with a sigh. “I still can’t shake that something is up with her.” His clasped hands resting on the surface of the table.

“Sam.” She placed a calming hand on his. “We’ve done every sort of testing we can think of. Besides, I’m not through with her yet.”

“What do you mean?” he loosened the grip on his hands.

“She’s still hiding something… I can feel it. But I just can’t figure out a way to get to it.” She looked off in the distance as if searching for the answer.

“Well you better find a way quick.” Sam sighed releasing his hands and grasping Rowena’s to pull her attention back to him.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Dean and I have a plan, to take care of Dick. Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? You can’t be serious. Why tomorrow?” she was starting to panic a bit, everything was moving a little too fast.

“Dick Roman is staying in a hotel that’s only a day’s drive from here. He’s going to be there for only a few days for something news related. I really don’t know why he’s there, but Dean and I can’t pass up this opportunity.”

Rowena stood up suddenly and began pacing a small line in front of the table.

“We have everything we need, the bone, the blood. We just need to do the same thing as last time, and not get caught up in the aftermath, and Dick and his entourage will be forced back into Purgatory.” Sam could see that Rowena was listening but was also thinking over their situation in her head.

“You make it sound so easy but how am I supposed to deal with Sterling while you boys are slaying Dick?” She stopped pacing looking to Sam for a serious answer.

“You’ll find a way; I know you will. Dean wants to take her with us and when we come back you can do whatever you need to do to figure out just who she is.” He paused a moment to breathe, “Rowena, I don’t think she’s human.”

Rowena sat back down in her chair hanging on his every word.

“When she and I were watching the security footage of Dick in the airport, have you seen it yet?”

“No.”

Sam quickly pulled out his phone from his back pocket, “I’ll show you.” He pressed a few buttons and swiped a few things on his phone bringing up the video of Dick Roman facing off against the group of armed civilians. She watched in disgust as he had the others devoured on his way out of the airport. The clip changed locations to the front of the airport to Dick Roman’s awaiting pre-crushed limo.

“She and I were watching everything happening live, and then this happened as he was getting in his limo.”

Rowena glanced at Sam’s face which was starting to lose some color, she looked back at his phone as she watched Dick enter his limo, and as soon as the door shut the limo began crumpling in on itself. She gasped and held the phone closer to her face trying to see as much detail as possible as the limo was being crushed. Dick Roman was pulled hastily out of the limo and the video ended as the crushing ceased. Rowena ran the video back to the beginning of the crushing watching it again and again, trying to see just what might have caused it.

“What are you thinking?” Sam asked after giving her plenty of time to examine the video.

“I can’t find anything linking her to what happened here.” She admitted. “But I can’t find anything to prove that she didn’t have anything to do with it.” She smiled as she set the phone down in front of her. “What was she like when this happened?

“She seemed angry, and shocked.”

“Rightfully so, after watching those poor souls die that way, I can understand that. But what about the crushing?”

Sam crossed his arms in thought, “I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention to her at the time. I was more interested in the fact that the limo was being crushed by itself.” He paused. “But she seemed shocked as well.” He pondered a moment trying to rewind his memory to that moment, how she looked. More precisely, how she looked after the fact. “But after…”

“What was she like?”

“She looked sick, or like she was in pain or something. She went all white and walked out angry.”

“That is odd.” She sat back in her chair mulling over everything in her head. “If she’s a witch it would explain that, but she didn’t come across as someone capable of doing that. I’ll have to do some research then while you boys do your excursion. Just…” She looked up at Sam reaching her hands out to him with her palms up as an invitation for him to place his in hers.

“Don’t get yourselves killed.”

Sam accepted her invitation and leaned forward. “We’ll do the best we can. I’ll keep an eye on her as well, if anything out of the ordinary happens…”

“Run. Just run, we don’t know what she’s capable of.” She released her grip and let her arms fall to her sides. “I need a drink.” She sighed.

“Same.” Sam smirked.

She rose quickly and made her way to the liquor cabinet behind Sam. “What time are you heading out?”

“Pretty much as soon as we’re done here.”

She placed a glass already with whiskey in it in front of him. “Then let’s make a toast.” She returned to her seat with her own glass of whiskey, only hers had quite a bit more in it than Sam’s.

“May those bastards return to Purgatory, and you boys make it back in one piece.” She raised her glass.

“I’ll drink to that.” Sam clinked their glasses together as they both downed their drinks in one swallow. Sam and Rowena sat in silence for a few moments, both inspecting the quality of the glasses while trying not to make eye-contact. Rowena was the first to break the silence as she stood up taking his empty glass from him, adding them to the small stack of dirty dishes in the sink. Sam stood up and began to leave the kitchen.

“Sam.” Rowena called, making him pause at the door. “Be careful.”

“I will. See you after.” Sam smiled as he left the kitchen, he was apprehensive about this mission, and it wasn’t because of the leviathans.

As Sam entered the war room, he found Dean, Jody, and Donna packing as many duffel bags as they had on hand, running back and forth from one of the storage cabinets with more than a few weapons missing from its stock. Sterling was seated at the table field stripping guns with such precision it spooked Sam a bit. Dean noticed he had entered the room and made a smirk at him noticing Sterling.

“She’s like a damn machine!” He called as he stuffed some small bottles of Borax in his bag.

“No kidding.” Sam huffed.

Sterling set down a gun she just finished and looked up at Dean, “Got anything else?”

“Nope, you did them all. You could start taking some of the bags to the cars.” He handed her a duffel full of Borax. As she went to grab the bag Sam stepped closer to Dean with a look of slight confusion.

“Cars? I thought it was just going to be us with Jack and Cas on this?”

“It was, until Jody and Donna mentioned the possibility of high security that were not of the leviathan variety.” Dean finished handing the duffel to Sterling who took it and slung it over her shoulder.

“Which car for this?”

“Put it in the Impala, here’s the keys.” Dean tossed her the keys and she deftly caught it in one hand.

“Be back in a flash.” She called as she swiftly took off with her overweight bag to the garage. Dean gave a quick glance to Sam who was watching her leave.

“Now you wanna tell me what all that was about with Rowena?”

“I was just getting updated about Sterling’s condition.”

“And? She seems fine to me.” He turned to grab a few radios from their charging stations.

“She is according to Rowena. So, I was thinking maybe she could help stand guard, nothing too elaborate.”

“Whoa, first you were super against her going and now you’re figuring out things she could do?” He turned from fiddling with the radios to face Sam. “Don’t you remember what happened in the Infirmary? The mess that she made. She’s an asset if anything. You don’t bench one of your best players.”

“You do if you’re still unsure about them in general.” Sam was trying in vain to make a decent point without revealing his anxieties.

“What are you trying to say Sam? That we shouldn’t trust her? I don’t. But someone who is trained like she is, and is willing to help, I’m sorry Sam but I’m not going to bite that hand. So, unless you’ve got something better than a gut feeling I’m all ears.” Dean stood in place with his arms crossed waiting for Sam to deliver him some brilliant revelation.

Sam stuttered a bit running a nervous hand through his hair as he searched for words that wouldn’t make him sound like a worry wort. Just then Sterling entered with jingling keys in hand.

“Next?” she called, seeing that Sam and Dean were having some kind of a spat and knew it was about her. She set the keys down on the table and moved toward another duffel.

“Take that one with the weapons to the Impala as well. Then Jody and Donna should be ready to load up.” Dean directed with his anger slightly dipping into his words as he spoke. He knew Sam was hiding something and wanted him to just come out with it, there wasn’t any time left for all this pussyfooting. Sterling grabbed the duffel closest to her and promptly took off to the garage again. Once they believed she was out of earshot Dean sighed and rubbed the bridge of his bow with his fingers.

“Look, I know something is bothering you about her. I’ll have her ride with Jody and Donna and you’re going to tell me everything.” Dean gave a look only those who have younger siblings would understand, which mostly meant _“Don’t fuck around with me.”_

Sam nodded, “Yea, yea I think that’s a good idea.”

“Something we should know about?” Jody asked setting a heavy box on the table.

“Not yet, just keep an eye on Sterling on our way there.” Dean nudged Jody with his elbow.

“Oh definitely, I’m worried about the poor girl. Moving this quickly after waking up like that, gotta wonder what she did for a living.”

“Apparently it had something to do with the government.” Sam stated.

“Secret Service or Special Ops?” Jody asked, “Makes sense with how that room turned out.”

“Does it matter? She’s going to be a big help. Jody, you and Donna will have her ride with you. You guys can give her the run-down on how to handle these guys. Think you got that?” Dean handed her a radio to be put in her duffel, she took it without breaking eye-contact with him.

“Please, you think we’re still green about this? Don’t worry Dean, we’ll give her _The Talk_ about these bastards.” She paused a moment. “After we deal with them, I’ll need to get back to my own. My phone’s been exploding since I left.”

“Same here.” Called Donna as she brought over a bag filled with something that sounded like plastic hitting against each other inside. “My guys have been seeing an influx of werewolves and vampires in the last few days. I’m telling ya, it’s like the flood gates have opened.”

“You’re not joking.” Dean half-chuckled as Sterling came back into the room. “We’re ready now. Cas! Jack! We’re heading out! Move your asses!” He called down the hall, which was pointless as Jack and Cas materialized into the room within a blink.

“Ready to move?” Castiel asked.

“Yep, grab that on the way and let’s hit the road people.” Dean called out one last time as he made his way to the garage.

After loading up both vehicles with what they felt was needed and leaving a detailed note for Alex, they took off at max speed to their destination. Sam, against Dean’s constant prodding, was still trying to form the words in his head so that he didn’t sound monumentally insane. Castiel and Jack sat quietly and patiently in the backseat as they were curious about Sam’s predicament with Sterling as well. Neither one of them had the chance to get to know her once she woke up, so seeing Sam a bit flustered about her left them apprehensive. After the first 4 to 5 hours of Sam not really being forward with his thoughts Dean resolved to blast his music and keep in contact with Jody with the radios as to if they needed to stop for gas or pee-breaks. On one of the stops he walked over to Jody as she was filling up her truck and Sterling and Donna were in the shop grabbing a few things.

“So, how’d she take it?” Dean asked while leaning on the backend of her truck.

“Rather well actually. Hey, what’s going on with Sam? Did something happen with him and her that we should know about?”

“I don’t know yet, he hasn’t come out with it yet.” He folded his arms on his chest. “I don’t understand what’s going on with him sometimes. I thought we were past this kind of stuff.”

“Just give him time. I know Sam, he wouldn’t fret over nothing. Just let him get all his ducks in a row.”

“I know Jods… I just…” he stopped as he adjusted his position a touch so that the brake light wasn’t poking him in his kidney. “I just wish he’d be straight with me.”

“He will Dean, just give him time.” Jody placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder as the gas pump sounded with a click. “You boys I swear. If it ain’t one of you, it’s both of you.” She chuckled a bit as she went to pull out the nozzle and return it to its holster. She gave a quick glance at Dean who was rolling his eyes at her. Donna and Sterling returned carrying mostly some soda and a few packets of Pop-Tarts. Claire poked her head out of the window from the backseat as soon as they were within earshot.

“About damn time! Toss me mine.”

Sterling tossed her two packets of Pop-Tarts and a bottle of Mountain Dew to which Claire caught with some difficulty but managed to toss the packets into the car before the bottle few too far past her window. She giggled a bit and sunk back into the truck with her snacks. Sterling gave a wide smile and went around to get back into the truck, leaving Donna standing with Dean and Jody.

“So? Everything ok on your end?” Donna directed toward Dean.

“Not quite yet, he’ll tell us soon enough. Let’s just get back on the road.” Jody stopped Dean before he could say anything. Donna fully understood the look she was getting from Jody and nodded slowly.

“Ah, gotcha. Well, see ya when we get there.” She called as she returned to the passenger seat.

Jody gave Dean one last motherly look as he turned to get back into Baby. She hoped whatever was bothering Sam wasn’t going to cause Dean too much shock as she took the drivers seat. Once they were back on the road Dean didn’t pester Sam with any questions, he actually avoided asking him anything and tried to make small talk with Jack instead. After a few attempts at providing some levity Dean returned to his small repertoire of music and played whatever suited his fancy. He left the volume at a reasonable level so that Sam could interject whenever he felt comfortable. For a while Sam was deeply involved with news and texts being sent to him on his phone. His insiders that were at the hotel they were barreling toward were keeping him updated on what was going on as well as any movement made by humans and leviathans alike. He was getting hourly updates on shift changes, and rotating locations of certain people or things. While he was paying attention, he continued to mull over how to reveal his thoughts and feelings about Sterling. Should he start out small with the athame? Or go big with the possibility of her interfering with the limo being crushed as they were watching? He took a deep breath, which made Dean straighten up in preparation for whatever news Sam was about to deliver.

“Alright, hear me out okay? All of you.” Sam gave a glance to the two in the back who were just as apprehensive as Dean.

Sam started from the beginning with the athame, and how Rowena had a spell on it that should only react to human touch. Retelling how Sterling was seen holding said athame after having used it on multiple undead in the Infirmary. He started to get into how no normal human should be able to do such an act after having been in a coma for three weeks. Dean seemed to agree with this but remained silent as he knew that couldn’t possibly be all. Jack wished to say something but Castiel shook is head as a sign to let Sam finish. Sam continued with how Rowena questioned her and how the questioning felt off somehow even with a particularly strong circle being used. How her healing spells felt different with her. He then got to what was bothering him most, what happened with Dick Roman. Sam allowed Dean to hold his phone as he pressed play at the moment when Dick entered the limo. Dean tried to keep his attention on the road while glancing at the phone but as soon as he noticed it crushing in on itself his attention was fully on the phone.

“What the hell?!” he breathed as he tried to look closer. Sam grabbed the steering wheel to avoid swerving into the oncoming lane. There weren’t very many cars on the road but having an accident this close to their destination was something best to be avoided. Dean ran the video back a few times ignoring the fact that he was essentially letting Sam drive.

“Dean!” Sam practically yelled to get his attention back. Dean shot back into action and took hold of the wheel again and mashed on the gas.

“What the hell? You think she did that?” Dean wasn’t sure if he believed Sam. There wasn’t much evidence to prove that she was the one responsible.

“I’m not sure but you can’t say something isn’t off about her.” Sam tilted his head as a way of making his point, to which Dean squinted his eyes and rubbed the back of his head with his hand.

“I don’t know Sammy, this all seems a bit far-fetched. She was with the Secret Ops or whatever so that explains the Infirmary scene, I’ve got nothing for the athame, as well as _that_. But I will admit _that_ was really weird.” He pointed to Sam’s phone to indicate just what _that_ was.

Sam stayed quiet letting Dean think about all that he unveiled. Dean was trying to seriously consider all that Sam said, but there wasn’t much proof to go on, or even an inkling as to who or what Sterling could be in place of being human. Jack and Castiel were quietly talking to each other giving their own take on the situation and certain possibilities. _Witch_ was one of the titles they threw around, but Sam informed them that Rowena came upon the same idea and that she was currently doing research on that. Upon that they returned to pondering amongst themselves and asking Sam to let them inspect the footage, to which he obliged. They were two or three hours away from their destination before Dean finally decided to speak up.

“Alright, I’m not saying I’m not believing you, but I think we should all just keep a close eye on her. And if anything, weird happens… we’ll figure something out.”

Sam looked a little dejected but seemed to understand where Dean was coming from. Dean knew Sam wouldn’t just make up things in order to make someone seem odd, it was their kind of weird that much was sure. He just didn’t feel it was necessary to pull out the pitchforks and torches just yet. But he was sure going to keep a close eye on her.

As they came up to a mile before their destination Sam had the caravan stop in a deserted lot in order to go over the plan one last time and make sure all roles were filled. He pulled up the layout of the hotel on a tablet and placed it on the hood of Jody’s truck. Everyone created a circle around the hood of the truck as they awaited Sam and Dean to address the company.

“Alright so, according to Mark, he says that in about 30 mins the shifts will change to humans on the outside of the hotel to watch for anything. The leviathans will be inside on the first and second floors, he’s not sure what they’re doing but he could hear screaming a few times. Dick Roman is in the top suite on the north face of the hotel, meaning he won’t have a visual of us when we arrive.” He rotated the map toward the back end of the hotel. “Mark will pull the fire alarm toward the back of the hotel when we tell him we’re here. Jody and Donna will act like first responders and meet and distract the people outside. Meanwhile Dean, Sterling, and Cas will sneak their way in from the south-west side. Dean has the decoy bone, I’ll have the real one. Jack, Claire and I will come in on the South-east side from this side door. Mark counted about 20-30 leviathans that he could make out. So as soon as we go in it’ll start. Donna?”

Donna reached down into her duffel and pulled out a Nerf Super-soaker from her bag, eliciting a slight chuckle from Dean and Claire.

“These bad boys are filled with so much borax, you’ll each have as many as you can carry. Use them sparingly.” She started tossing one after another to each person, first giving everyone large guns then smaller pistols. Then she pulled out a large black trash bag from the depths of her duffel and drew up a brightly colored red balloon filled to what would most likely be borax. “These’ll be your grenades, again use them only as much as possible. I was only able to make so many.” She held the bag open letting everyone grab as many as possible.

Once everyone had armed up and were stuffing balloons in their pockets Sam continued. “These will also help determine who is a leviathan and who is human. The less we harm people the better. Dean, Sterling and Cas will make their way up, using the stairs here, to the suite. Jack, Claire and I will do the same on this side and we should converge in the middle in front of his suite here. Is that clear for everyone?”

Everyone answered in unison in agreement, the plan seemed simple but effective. And given the layout of the hotel, it should definitely confuse them.

“Cas, we don’t know if Dick can still sense you or whatever, but I’ll need you with Dean in case things go south.” Sam gave Castiel a look of slight worry.

“If he does, I’ll prove to be a good decoy for you guys to do your end.” Castiel interjected with a bit of reluctance. He hoped Dick wouldn’t be able to sense him, but when has things gone their way?

“Right, Sterling this seem good to you Cochise?” Dean was inspecting Sterling as she was in thought of their plan.

She was quiet for a bit, mulling it over and even taking a better look at the plans for the hotel. After she set the tablet down, she cleared her throat.

“Sounds like a solid plan to me.” She announced finally. “What’s the plan if things go south?”

“Keep fighting.” Dean recited.

“There’s no backup plan? What if Sam and co get stopped before they can even enter, and we’re stuck in the front with a hoard of them? You guys don’t do contingency plans, do you?” She looked around at everyone in the group for someone to reply but everyone shrugged or looked down at their feet. “Well… fuck it.” She chuckled. “Don’t get spooked if I disappear from you for a time.”

“Why?” Dean asked her, curious of her sudden cowardice.

“You guys have your ways… and I have mine. I’m not going to leave ya’ll hanging if that’s what you’re thinking. I’ll have to stretch before we get into this.” She laughed a bit. “This is one shit-show I’ll tell ya that. I admire you guys I really do.”

“Alright well, anyone else?” Sam coughed giving a look to Dean.

No one else had anything to say and on that note, everyone started loading themselves up with whatever they needed on their person. Dean noticed Sterling was only packing a few squirt guns and balloons as defense.

“You think that’s all you need?”

“Yep.”

“Look I know you haven’t dealt with these things before, but I can guarantee you’ll need a bit more than that.” Dean eyed her up and down a bit.

“As I said, you have your ways and I have mine. Don’t worry too much.” She winked at him as she passed him to where Sam was fiddling with his tablet. Dean scoffed and went to start up Baby.

“Can I get one last look at that layout again?” Sterling asked as she appeared beside Sam, spooking him a bit.

“Sure, here.” He shakily handed it to her, and she began flicking through the layout again going from blueprints to virtual.

“What are you looking for?”

“There’s a saying we had in my troupe. _‘Don’t target discriminate, or you’ll deteriorate.’_ Words I had to live by.” She continued absorbing what she could then handed the tablet back to Sam. “Got what I needed, thanks Sam.” She patted him on the back and went to load up in the truck. Sam looked back at the tablet and tried to see what she was looking for, after a few minutes of searching Dean was growing impatient and started calling for him from the Impala. Sam sighed and resigned to try to fiddle with it on their way there.

Everyone loaded up and Sam sent Mark the notification that they were about 10 mins away. Mark sent back a confirmation within a few seconds and as they were pulling into the parking lot the lights for the fire alarm were flashing madly. Jody and Donna turned on their lights and jumped into playing their part. Sterling and Claire hopped out of the truck from the side where people couldn’t see them and made their way to the Impala. Sam and Dean went their separate ways with their operative groups and circled around the growing group of people in front of Jody’s truck.

Sam, Jack and Claire got to their door and went in as quick and quiet as possible with their super-soakers drawn. They rounded each corner with Sam as the lead as they made their way to the stairwell nearest them. In the distance they could hear shouting and running on their floor as well as the floor above them. They hadn’t run into anyone or anything yet, making Sam feel a bit more nervous as they entered the stairwell and began the six-story climb.

At the same time Dean, Sterling and Castiel entered through the front experiencing little resistance as everyone who was in the front were with Jody and Donna. As Dean tried to make a b-line for the stairwell nearest them five people in black suits took notice of them and began running at them at full speed. Dean pulled out his super soaker and pumped and squeezed the trigger releasing a steady stream of borax into the face of his attackers. Their faced sizzled as they fell on their knees writhing in pain. Dean looked behind him to find Castiel and Sterling were right behind him holding their pistols ready for any attackers that should appear behind them. As they moved forward into the next hallway they were immediately surrounded on either end with leviathans. Dean and Castiel aimed and shot as much borax as possible causing many of them to collapse in pain. But as they shot and emptied their guns the stream of leviathans never seemed to end. Suddenly three of them through the pain of the borax leapt forward and tackled Dean to the ground.

“DEAN!” Castiel shouted just as he was tackled himself. Both Castiel and Dean fought relentlessly against their holders but to no avail.

“Boss says he wants them brought to him, alive and unspoiled.” One of them chuckled.

“Wasn’t there a third one?” Another one squeaked.

“If there was, they’ll be found. Search the place, leave no stone unturned.” The makeshift leader of the outfit crouched to get a better look at Deans face which was scratched up now. “I can’t wait to see what he’ll do with you.” He flashed his enormous row of teeth at Dean in the hopes it would spook him. It seemed to only make him angry and fidget a bit in the hold of the leviathan that had him. The leader chuckled at him and waltzed to face Castiel.

“Castiel, how are you, you bastard? Been a while.” He laughed. “Oh, you should see yourself, it’s amazing.”

“Reg, that’s enough mucking around. Take those two to Dick now!” A passing leviathan shouted down the hall.

“Roger that, doing that now.” He looked at his subordinates then to Dean and Castiel. “Let’s get on with it then. Don’t want to keep Dick waiting.”

The two leviathans hauled them to their feet, keeping their holds on them as tight as possible as they loaded up into a nearby elevator.

“You knew we were coming?” Castiel gasped.

“I’ll let Dick enlighten you, don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

“What surprise?” Dean grunted.

“Oh, you’ll see, you’ll all see.”

Sam, Jack and Claire paused for a breath on the fourth floor. Sam didn’t like that they hadn’t run into anyone yet and was growing more anxious by the minute. Once everyone caught their breath they continued faster this time, up the stairs until they finally reached the top floor door. Sam peered through the tiny window on the door to see if anyone was passing by or standing in the hallway. Just as he was about to open the door, he heard a group of leviathan pass the door.

“In here, stay with them in here. Don’t let them do anything funny until Dick comes.”

Sam peaked through the window to see Dean and Castiel being manhandled into a room a bit farther down the hall, he ran through the layout in his head and realized they had taken them straight to the suite. Sam cursed under his breath and waited for the lumbering leviathan that gave the orders to leave. He ran through some ideas in his mind as he looked at Jack and Claire who were waiting for him to say something.

“Alright you two take this and…” he stopped as he was reaching where he stashed the real bone that was to be used on Dick, and realized it was no longer with him. Jack and Claire could see the panic in his eyes as he tried to figure out if Dean might’ve taken it to finish the job himself.

“What do we do?” Claire grabbed his hand to ground him in the moment and keep him from panicking.

“Alright, here’s the plan…”

Dean and Castiel were still being held strongly by the leviathans as two more entered the suite from a different door, both stringing along Jody and Donna.

“Jody! Donna!”

“Hello Dean.”

Dean turned his head to were he heard the snarky sound come from. Dick appeared from the other room on the opposite side of Donna and Jody, holding a glass of bourbon daintily in his hand.

“Glad to see you’ve been doing well, and you’ve come with more friends. No computer geeks to get you in this time, you had poor Mark give you the deets.” He sat slowly into a leather office chair across from Dean and Castiel. The leviathans all moved everyone in a semicircle around Dick leaving room for more.

“What happened to him?” Dean asked letting a growl emit from his lips.

“Oh, I think you know already. He didn’t have many final words to say, if he did it was lost in the screaming.” He smiled. “It’s so much nicer now that I don’t have to pretend at being human.”

“So, what happened? Why are you all back topside?” Dean asked through gritted teeth.

“I’ll reserve that answer for when we have your brother and all your friends in the room which should be right about…”

In that instant Sam was shoved into the room, splaying him out next to Dean. A leviathan that was standing by jumped on him and held him in a hold mirroring to the one Dean was in.

“Now.” Dick smirked hungrily at Sam then flashed his eyes to the leviathan that threw him in. “Where are the rest?”

“We’re on it.” It said as it left the doorway.

“Now that all important parties are here, I guess I can divulge some information before we get started. So, Sam, just before you dropped in Dean asked the mother of all questions. Why are we back here, on Earth?” He took a sip of his drink and rocked in his chair letting the question sink in. “Funny that. Even I don’t know how it happened. One second I was gorging on vampires in Purgatory and in a flash, I was on Earth. No sun, at first. Undead everywhere, more monsters than you can shake a stick at. Now, care to tell me just what happened to put us here?”

“You mean you don’t know?” Sam asked.

“Oh, come now Sam I’m not going to play this game with you. I could easily just get the answers I want from one of your cop friends.” He eyed Jody up and down as he took another sip of his drink.

“_Chuck_, started _The End_.” Dean shouted out.

“_The End_? The hell is that supposed to mean?” Dick guffawed.

“Exactly what it is asshole. _The End _of everything. Chuck jumpstarted the end of everything, and not just the world.” Sam grunted.

Realization began to hit Dick of the severity of the situation as he stood from his office chair and walked around to the front of the desk. “So, this is the end of it all?” he wondered out loud. “Outstanding!” a grin stretched across his face as he placed his glass on the desk behind him.

“You’re going to die, same as us! Unless we do something!” Sam was starting to panic, he didn’t expect this kind of reaction.

“Do what? Something we’ve been waiting to happen for eons, and you want to stop it? Well, makes sense for you but little news flash for you. God can’t kill us, never could and never will. Why do you think he brushed us into that endless fight club called Purgatory?” He crossed his arms in front of him.

“There’s something you boys are failing to realize then. If he really cared about you all, then why did he call us back? I’ll tell you why. He doesn’t need you anymore. We now have free reign to do whatever we damn well please. And that includes eating each, and every one of you.” He waltzed over toward Jody and Donna taking Jody by the chin and rotating it around to get a good look at her face.

Just then the door burst open with two more leviathan holding Claire and Jack in a chokehold.

“Jack!” Castiel called.

“Cas! Should I…”

“No! Don’t fight them.” Castiel didn’t want Jack to reveal what he was just yet in case things went south, which was starting to look that way.

“The gang is all here then. So, without further ado, Castiel, Dean, and Sam. I’m going to eat you respectively. I was first going to start with Sam and let you agonize over his death, then Castiel, then everyone else. But I’ve come up with a different order. First…”

He turned back to Jody and Donna. “I’ll eat your cop friends.”

He released his grip on Jody’s jaw, turned, and slowly began walking toward Dean as he talked. “Then the two children, then the fallen angel, then Sam. Then after you beg for death, I’ll eat you, piece by piece, limb by limb.” He crouched down until he was inches from Dean’s face. “You’ll either die slowly as I eat you, or you’ll die of blood loss.” He stood back up in front of Dean and looked around the room at all the dejected faces. “Oh and you won’t be needing that anymore.” He reached down behind Dean and pulled out the decoy bone from under Dean’s jacket. He gave it a good look then snapped it over his knee.

“So, let’s get this party started!” He clapped his hands together, and as he did so something fell from the ceiling.

When Sam was showing Sterling the plans and maps of the hotel, he didn’t realize she was memorizing the layout of the ventilation shafts that ran throughout the building. He also didn’t realize she snatched the real bone from him without him even feeling her remove it from him. And once Dean and Castiel were beset on all sides with leviathan she took the opportunity to squirrel away into a vent near them, along with using one or two miracles to make her unnoticeable. It made her stomach churn a bit, but she knew it was what needed to be done. She snaked her way through the ducts until she reached the opening right above Dick as he was giving his menu order.

She readied herself and took note of where each hostage was and their holders. As soon as he was in position, she kicked the screen down and plummeted feet first, throwing four borax balloons in the faces of those holding Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Jody. The leviathans screamed in pain as Dick spun around to face his newest attacker, as he did Sterling surged forward, bone in hand and pierced straight through his chest. She stepped back as Dick stood in shock and stared at the bone in his chest. Dean, Sam, and Castiel all jumped back in preparation for what was to come. Jody freed Donna from a stunned guard and ran to Claire and Jack to also try to move them back as she had heard about the nasty punch this particular item can give to those around it.

“Get back Sterling!” Dean yelled out.

Sterling began to jump back behind the desk but was stopped by a steely shaky grip on her arm. She turned to find Dick Roman was still standing and looking furiously at her, then back to the bone protruding from his chest.

“Now that wasn’t very nice.” He grunted. His being started to flicker a bit and black ooze began forming at his mouth and out his ears, his arms and legs began shaking violently. He looked back and forth from the bone to her as he was still standing in place. “What’s happening?” He asked himself as his shaking slowly ceased and the black ooze stopped flowing.

“Well that’s new.” He smiled as he pulled out the bone with his free hand examined it for a moment then stabbed Sterling in her chest.

“NO!!” Sam, Dean and Castiel yelled in unison as they watched Dick plunge the thrice bloody bone into Sterling’s abdomen. She gasped a few breaths before falling to the floor holding the bone protruding from her chest with a shaky hand.

Dick turned to face Dean and Sam with a wide grin spanning the entirety of his face. “Guess Purgatory no longer exists. Either that or it’s closed.” He pulled out his pocket handkerchief and began cleaning the black ooze from his face.

“Well, that didn’t work like I’d hoped.”

Dick paused taking in the voice who just spoke, he turned around to find Sterling standing and pulling out the bone from her chest without so much as wincing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO MANY WORDS! wHY Do I do this to myself....It was only ever meant to be a few chapters long but I keep going into detail and giving more and more stuff and hints into it.... I'm so tired though. I SLEPT TILL 2 PM TODAY!  
This needs to get done so I can go back to painting....
> 
> The title of this chapter is based off a video on youtube of the same name.... I listened to that video so many times while writing this. It's the perfect music for it.  
Then I switched it up and listened to the entirety of four Silent Hill OST's because it's October... BIG Spooky fan me.


	7. Please Leave a Message

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remember that phone call? Yea, we're gonna need more than a quarter to make it though.

“Damn! I thought for sure if that worked, I could take my time.” She mumbled sadly as she eyed the bone up and down. “He had to go and make it more fucking difficult than it needed to be.” She tossed the useless bone to the side and finally looked around the room at everyone staring agape at her. Dick Roman was standing in the center of the room unblinking with his mouth wide open.

“H-how are you alive?” He finally stammered.

“Eh that old thing can’t do much against me, works best on…”

“No, no. That’s not what I meant.” Dick Roman slowly got down on his knees holding his clasped hands in front of him. “How are you alive, here and now?”

“What’s your real name?” Sterling inquired now unsure with exactly who she was talking to.

“MICAOLZ.” His voice boomed slightly, but it was enough to make everyone except for Jack, Castiel and Sterling to cover their ears. “I could never forget a voice like yours.”

“No.” she stared at him shocked. “No way, little bean Mica? Holy shit! I remember when you were just a small little thing unable to even see light. You’ve really come far haven’t you?” she smiled slightly, allowing just a little bit of pride to seep into her smile. Then remembering who she was in front of she straightened up and cleared her throat.

“MICAOLZ…” she started with an authoritative voice that commanded everyone’s attention. Dick lowered his head, prepared for whatever punishment he was about to receive. Her stern look softened. “Mica, look at me.” Dick slowly raised his head as tears seemed to have formed in his eyes as he looked on her with slight confusion.

She took his clasped hands in hers, “Child, can you forgive me?”

“F-for what?” he stammered, choking back tears.

“For abandoning you. I never meant for you to be tossed aside as you were.”

“You passed, no one blamed you. Not even...”

“True, but I instructed my pupils to take care of you all to the best of their ability, as I no longer had the strength to move you to a better location. As they failed so have I.”

“No, no. You could never fail us.”

“Allow me to make it up to you.” She placed a single finger on his forehead for a moment then returned it to cover his hands.

“Yes… we’ll accept. But, what about…”

“Don’t worry about me, or them.” She gestured to the huddled humans against the wall as they continued to watch everything with stunned expressions all over their faces. “They’ll understand. Now…” Sterling stood to her full height guiding Dick to rise with her.

“Go with love my child and bear you no ill will.” She slowly kissed her lips against his forehead. As soon as she made contact, he began dissolving into specs of Gold dust that disappeared moments after falling from him. Around everyone all the leviathans began dissolving as well in the same fashion as Dick. His face was content, and he smiled with his eyes as he watched Sterling remove her lips from his forehead as the last part of him dissolved.

She stood in place watching the last flecks disappear and gasped with a pained inhale of breath. The room, no, the Earth was now empty of leviathans. Sterling leaned on the desk as she looked around the room at everyone still looking at her with shock and confusion. She took a few deep breaths and stood up from her leaning position.

“Alright I know you all have tons of questions. And I’m willing to answer them all, just not here.” She panted a bit between words as she attempted to seem fine.

Sterling snapped her fingers and they were all back in the Bunker, more specifically the war room. Each in their own chair with Sterling occupying a chair at the end of the table with her feet up.

“Don’t worry about Baby, or your truck. I made sure to move them here.” She gave a knowing look at Dean and Jody who remained silent and still in their seats. She took a few breaths as the room remained silent in anticipation for whatever she was about to do next.

“Alright Billie.” Sterling called.

With a blink Billie appeared next to Sterling looking only slightly miffed. “About Damn time! Even I can get sick of searching the vastness of space before I lose my patience. Hey everyone. Another thing, if you were going to do something as stupid as what you did with the leviathans you could’ve called me.” She stopped as she realized Sterling was in no shape or form to further listen to her petty grievances. Billie turned to face the group of people stunned still with everything that’s been going on. “So, is this everybody?”

“Not quite. There’s two more, but one should be here right about…”

Rowena absentmindedly waltzed into the war room with her face deep in a book before realizing she had eyes on her. As she looked up, she shrieked loudly, making her voice echo throughout the Bunker.

“Now. And with that, in another few moments Alex should join us. Please Rowena, have a seat.” Sterling gestured to an empty chair nearest her. Rowena wanted to scream and shout and ask so many questions but judging by the looks on everyone’s faces she thought it best to do as suggested.

As Rowena slowly took a seat setting her book on the table, light footsteps could be heard making their way to the war room. Alex was rubbing sleep from her eye as she came through the entrance of the room.

“Rowena, you alright? I heard a SreaAAAhhh…” Alex jumped at the sight of everyone seated as if waiting for her, and Billie standing next to Sterling with her arms crossed, as patiently as she could.

“Please have a seat Alex.” Asked Sterling with a pained smile.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked as she took the nearest empty seat.

“We’re getting to that…” Sterling started taking a few more breaths. She closed her eyes for a moment then sat up straight in her chair, removing her feet from the table.

“First, I want to reassure you of something, I’m not _Chuck_ in disguise.” She gauged the minds in the room, no one was coming up with any questions, yet. “Secondly, I’m not here to bring about _The End_. I’m here to put a stop to this.” Finally, a question popped up.

“No, I’m not _The God_. _Chuck _and _Amara_ are meant to be your ‘_Gods’_. Think of me as their past mentor.”

Another one in a snarkier tone.

“Just so you know I passed before even the angels were created.”

“So, wait, you were dead?” Jody asked aloud.

_“Ah finally we’re talking again… exhausting reading minds.”_

“I was yes.”

“What or who brought you back then?” Sam asked starting to become more curious.

“_Chuck_ did. He thought I’d help deal with you lot so that Billie here doesn’t fulfill her end.”

“Which I intend to.” Billie pipped up. Sterling gave her a stern glare which made Billie back off just a bit.

“So basically, you’re a God on the same level of _Chuck_?” Donna asked.

Sterling squinted a bit and adjusted herself in her chair. “Not, entirely.” She took a breath, “Do you remember what he did with your sun?”

“Y-yea, and then he… no…”

“Yep, that was me.”

“Was that why you went into a three-week coma?” Rowena asked now wanting to pitch in on the questioning.

“One, of the reasons. Before we get too far into this line of questioning, I must disclose some things to you all. Especially to you Billie.” Billie tilted her head a few degrees and decided to take a seat next to Sterling. “I’m listening.”

“I understand you all wish to find a way to kill _Chuck_?”

The silence was answer enough for everyone.

“For reasons known only to me, I won’t be able to answer or go into serious detail about certain aspects of my past, present, or future. Therefore, if you have a question that I can’t answer I’ll simply say ‘skip’. Same goes for your questions Billie. Understood?”

“Why can’t we get definite answers?” Dean asked thoroughly confused.

“Skip.”

“I don’t understand, how are we supposed to get answers we need if you’re just going to ‘skip’ them?” Sam queried.

“Then I guess you’ll just have to ask the _right_ questions, now won’t you?” Sterling gave Sam a little nod.

“Why _did_ you go into that coma?” Alex asked, still afraid of whatever situation she’d been dragged into.

“Too much power, recreating that sun just took too much out of me.”

“So, you have a power limit?” Sam asked.

“It’s a fluctuating gauge, there is no limit, but depending on whatever it is I’m trying to ‘create’ or do, I can overuse what I have.”

“Like what you did with the leviathan? I mean, you are looking a little worse for wear, not saying you look bad or anything. But what happened to them?” Claire asked.

Sterling swallowed, “I… I ended their existence.”

The room went quiet, but Sterling could feel the burning anger building up in Sam and Dean. “So, all this time you could’ve…” Dean hissed through gritted teeth.

“I wanted to try putting them in Purgatory first. Coral them into one specific location, away from anything or anyone they could harm. That way I could deal with them on my own time.”

“Why couldn’t you deal with them as soon as you knew they were out?” Dean half-yelled.

“Skip.”

“No, you don’t get to skip this one.” Dean went to stand up, but Sam grabbed him by the arm and shoulder forcibly holding him in his chair. “People have died!” Dean yelled in frustration.

Sterling looked down at her feet, a sight that made Dean rethink his outburst.

She raised her head to look him in the eyes. “And I would give anything to correct that mistake.”

“You’re a God. Can’t you bring back those people who died?” Sam asked while keeping a firm hand on Dean’s shoulder.

“I cannot.” Sterling gritted her teeth, clearly wishing she could elaborate.

“Why?” Dean huffed.

“Skip.”

“Damnit!” Dean shouted, remaining seated but shaking off Sam.

“Why did you end their existence?” Jack asked easing the tension.

“I was the one who created them, hence why _Chuck_ and _Amara_ couldn’t destroy them. You cannot destroy what you didn’t create. They were not meant to exist this long.”

“Then why did you create them?” Claire followed up.

Sterling sighed, “I created them as a teaching mechanism for _Chuck_ and _Amara_. To show them the do’s and don’ts.”

“Do’s and don’ts of being a God, or creating in general?” Castiel asked.

“In a way, both.” Sterling sighed.

“You mentioned when I was questioning you that you were suffering from a terminal illness, seeing that you’re basically a God, just what did you pass from?” Rowena asked.

Sterling gave Rowena a knowing gaze and a subtle wink, “Skip.”

“Was the original Death there for you?” Rowena pondered.

“I’ve got that one.” Billie pipped up, remaining unmoved with her arms folded and a slightly slouched position in her seat. “He was, I was not. But I did hear from other reapers just what kind of a shit-show it was.”

Sterling gave Billie a firm stare that she understood immediately.

“Look we’re all here for one purpose, to deal with _Chuck_.” Billie started.

“But before we can do anything about him, we absolutely must find _Amara_.” Sterling interrupted.

“Why?” Sam asked. “Since _Chuck_ is the one causing all this, why do we need _Amara_?”

Sterling took a deep breath. “Because in order for my plan to work I need them both.”

“Why?” Billie asked now curious if she can pry something out of her.

Sterling rotated her head slowly and blinking softly as if to say sorry she sighed, “Skip.”

Billie gave her a frustrated look and was starting to lose what little patience she had. “Fine, then we can do it my way. Less hassle and we don’t need to search through billions of light-years of space to find _Amara_.”

“We don’t.” Sterling interrupted. “We don’t need to, not anymore. Castiel and Jack have done the leg-work for us.”

“Oh, and I guess you know exactly which star system she’s stuck in?” Billie mocked.

“I do.” Sterling replied quietly. “I have a good idea which one, I just…” Sterling sucked in a large amount of air through her teeth as she leaned forward with her arms on her abdomen. Billie’s face changed from that of an angry customer at a retail store, to one of sincere worry and concern. Everyone collectively held their breath as Sterling sat back up trying to downplay the obvious pain she seemed to be in. “I just need to see Castiel.” She huffed out in one breath.

“What do you mean see?” Castiel asked with slight confusion.

“Into you. Your memories of using this ‘Observatory’.” She groaned a touch at the end as she adjusted herself in her seat. “I expect it’ll be quite extensive so it may take me a bit of time to navigate.”

“Sterling why don’t I do this?” Billie asked with a touch of worry in her words.

“You could, but I very much doubt you’d know it as well as I do. No, it has to be me.” Sterling affirmed with a more authoritative voice than what Billie expected. “Plus, what’s the sense in diving into his memory if I have to dive into yours? This way is better.”

“Are you sure about this?” Rowena interjected, “I could…”

“No, Rowena. Your task will be a different one. I guestimate it’ll take me about half a minute to two minutes to find the right memory and then possibly ten to fifteen to get to the information I need.”

“Guestimate? You mean you aren’t sure how long it’ll take?” Dean questioned.

“It’s not an exact science, he has been alive for… wait, how old are you?” She squinted at Castiel.

“A little over 3.9 billion years old.”

“Aww, that’s cute.” Sterling replied with a wry smile.

“So, in the meantime what would you have me do?” Rowena asked patiently.

“I’m going to send some things to you, steel yourself.” Sterling made a slight motion with her hand and Rowena gasped as she shook a little in her seat. After a moment she caught her breath.

“You want me… to do WHAT?” She shrieked as she shot up from her seat.

“What, I didn’t think something like that would be an issue for you?”

“Are you bloody kidding me? I don’t even know where I’m going to find such things! Not to mention how long it’ll take me to get them.”

“Don’t worry, I think you’ll have time. Also, you do have a Nephilim and Death to ask for help from. I didn’t think it was outside the realm of possibility for you.” Sterling stated serenely.

“That’s easy for you to say! But how am I supposed to…”

Sterling calmly interrupted Rowena’s beginning of what could possibly have been an hour-long tirade with a soft, gentle voice. “Rowena, I have faith in you. You can do this.”

Rowena sighed as she plopped back into her seat with a groan. It was easy to say this situation did not go at all like how she thought.

“Castiel if you please.” Sterling motioned to him to come forward. “Let’s grab two comfy chairs and get this started, shall we?” She smiled.

“We’ll get them, where do you want them?” Sam asked loudly as he pulled Dean to his feet.

“Eh, right in here is fine. The location doesn’t really matter.” Sterling vaguely gestured to a space in the war room that had enough room for two large brown leather chairs. Sam and Dean hauled them in from the room next door and set them facing each other with a little wiggle room in-between them. Jody, Donna and Claire remained seated at the table, watching with great attentiveness at everything unfolding in front of them.

Once Dean set his down, he glanced over to Sterling. “Here good?”

“Yes, that’ll do fine. Castiel if you please.” She gestured toward the seats allowing him to make the first choice.

He first didn’t want to move as he felt Sterling should be the one to sit first but with her eyeing him and waiting patiently, he nervously sat in the farthest seat. As soon as Sterling moved to get up, he realized why she made him sit first. She groaned as she got on her feet her waist still bent and her hands still on her knees as she took a few moments to catch her breath. Billie was about to lay a supportive hand on her shoulder, but Sterling stood up straight with a heavy intake of air that spooked Billie.

“Don’t need you babying me. I’m fine.” Sterling groaned as she slowly walked toward the empty chair without giving Billie even a glance. “This isn’t the worst I’ve had.”

“Uh-huh.” Billie remarked sarcastically.

Sterling’s slow rise from her previous chair was mirrored with how delicately she lowered herself down into the empty chair across from Castiel. He made a motion to help her, but she swatted his hand away as she finally settled into her seat, stifling a few groans with biting her lip. Once she was able to relax without too many flashes of pain, she looked deep into Castiel’s eyes. “You ready?”

“Yes.” He answered gruffly.

“Once I have the exact location, I’ll pass it onto you Billie, but we cannot retrieve her just yet. Is that understood?” Sterling gave a somewhat threatening glance toward Billie.

“It is.” Billie replied with sincerity.

“After that, Rowena it’ll be your turn to bat. I trust everyone will aid her when necessary.”

“Wait, what’ll happen when you bounce back from…” Dean gestured to both of them.

“I’m not entirely sure, I’m not completely omniscient here.” Sterling chuckled at the irony in that. Which didn’t alleviate the overwhelming sense of tension in the air. “Right well, let’s get this show rolling.” She stretched her arms a bit and slouched in her chair before returning her gaze to Castiel, who was sitting as if he had a pole strapped to his back. “Relax Castiel, this won’t harm you a bit.”

“What about you?” he asked softly.

Sterling shook her head as if to shake the question off her face as her expression changed to seriousness. “Castiel, being of this plane. Do I have permission to enter your essence?”

Castiel stiffened and gazed into her eyes, “Yes.”

“Brace yourself.” Sterling whispered as she leaned her head against the back of the chair and closed her eyes. Castiel at first was watching her but then instantly fell into darkness. He could feel his panic start to rise as he didn’t know where he was or just what was going on. His mind immediately thought of _The Empty_, and his panic increased exponentially.

“Calm yourself Castiel.” A faint voice called out. It sounded as if it came from everywhere but nowhere, the voice seemed tired and a bit distant.

“Sterling?” Castiel called out loudly.

“No need to shout I can hear you just fine.” Sterling chuckled, still sounding a bit distant and muffled in the darkness.

“Why do you sound so far away?” Castiel asked quieter this time, adopting is normal volume for talking.

“Eh, I have a few guesses, but I’d rather focus on what we need to do, alright I’m forewarning you now. I’m going to be rooting around in your memories, for you it’ll just be like reliving them. Only minus certain senses like pain or anything external. Feelings are going to come in waves though so brace yourself for those, I’ve heard they’re not as fun the second time around.”

“You’ve done this before.” Castiel stated as a question.

“A few times, yes. Now, I’m looking for anything involving the Observatory which was a little over three weeks ago so bear with me. I’ve been dead since the last time I did this, if I pull up anything from too far back just let me know.”

“Can’t you tell?” Castiel asked. “You said you’ve done this before.”

“Yea, on beings of my own design. For you, it’s like reading stereo instructions. Here we go, let’s try this, let me know if this is close.” Sterling called.

Suddenly the black emptiness became the Bunker, more specifically the war room. Jack stood in the doorway leading to the library with Dean, Castiel and Sam on either side of the main table looking up at Jack.

“I can't even do one good thing. And I know that if I stay, I'm gonna hurt you. All of you. And… I can't. You're all I have.”

“Whooa…” Castiel gasps.

“Jack, listen…” Sam says sadly.

“Sterling, I think this is too far.” Castiel calls out loudly.

“How far, too far?” Sterling asks with a touch of frustration.

“Give or take 6 to 8 months.” Castiel says just as Jack uses his power to push everyone in the room to the floor. His feelings of that moment, pain, empathy, remorse, the wave of emotion was almost too much for him to bear a second time. Within a blink the scene is gone and darkness returns.

“Alright, let’s try this.”

Again, Castiel is thrust into another scene, but this one resembled Heaven. The long white hallways with an endless number of doors. Castiel looks around to try to get his bearings.

“How about this one?” Sterling huffs.

“Hold on, right place. Let me make sure it’s the right time.” Castiel pants as he runs through the hallways looking for signs of just what version of Heaven this was. The lights flicker on and off but not in the frequency he remembered it being in the last time it was there. Then as he turns a corner, he comes across two bodies of angels laying on the ground with a black gooey substance oozing from their noses. The feeling of dread and guilt that he felt at that moment hit him like a ton of bricks.

“Getting closer!” Castiel calls.

“How close damnit?!” Her frustration was becoming more evident as Castiel worried about the toll it was going to take on her after the fact.

“Same location but go forward a few months.” Castiel wasn’t particularly keeping track of time during that period but he was hoping if he gave her the location it would make it easier. Again, he was plunged into darkness, but it seemed to last a little longer this time.

“Sterling?!”

“Just give me a second.” She wheezed.

“Sterling are you alright?” Castiel called. He was becoming more anxious about her by the second.

“I’m trying this one next…” she said softly, her voice barely above a normal volume. Immediately Castiel was thrust into Heaven again, only this one looked more like how he saw it last time. Black marks littered the walls and the lights were in a constant state of flickering on and off. Castiel turned around to find Jack directly behind him.

“This is the one!” Castiel hollered.

The utter silence became unnerving as Castiel followed his memories path directly to Naomi. “Sterling, this is it. You still with me?” his voice wavered as he feared the worst.

“I am. Just follow, I’m watching.” Her voice was even fainter, and she sounded exhausted.

Like a terrible re-run Castiel moved with his memory as they traveled through Heaven finally reaching the Observatory. He watched for a second time as Jack entered the power room with Naomi and the feelings of unease and fear came back to him. He focused hard on the task that needed to get done, the same as how he got through this situation the first time. As soon as his mind connected with the Observatory he was thrust back into the vastness of space. Only this time he didn’t need to drive. He watched as a passenger as he traveled through space past the Milky Way Galaxy into the outer reaches of the universe. He marveled at the sight of the massive universe again and its sheer size dumbfounded him for a second time.

“I knew it…” Sterling’s faint voice could be heard nearly whispering. “Third time’s the charm…”

The scene continued as they dove into the outer rim and speedily moved closer to where Castiel remembered taking note of a peculiar black hole. As he travelled closer, he was again jolted back into the room and looking at Jack screaming for Naomi.

“That’s it…” Sterling mumbled as darkness replaced the scene.

“Were you able to get anything from that?” Castiel asked rather sadly.

“Quite a bit…actually…” She moaned. “Thank you…”

“For…” Castiel started but before he could finish, he was awake with Dean directly in his face staring at him and lightly tapping the side of his face with a sweaty palm.

“Hey, there he is! Gave us quite the scare.” He backed off as Castiel adjusted in his seat to try to sit up.

“I’m fine Dean how’s…” his question died on his lips at the sight of Sterling.

Alex and Rowena were on either side of her chair trying to wake her up with Billie standing directly behind her looking over her body. Sterling’s body was completely limp in the chair with her face drained of all color. Her mouth slightly agape and her eyes shut as Rowena and Alex massaged and shook her arms and hands trying in vain to wake her. Jody and Donna were pacing on the other side of the table, they seemed somewhat relieved that Castiel was awake, but were still anxious about the other participant.

“How long were we out?” Castiel asked with a little more panic than he intended.

“Over an hour.” Billie stated flatly.

The deafening silence that hung in the room was only broken by the light taps on her skin from Alex and Rowena. Suddenly Sterling took in a large gasp of air as her eyes burst open and frantically searched around the room. Billie shot from behind the chair to directly in front of her, slightly pushing Alex out of the way who made no noise of protest.

“Right here.” Billie said calmly as she took Sterling’s hand. Sterling groped around in front of her as if she couldn’t directly see her, but the moment she found Billie’s shoulder she grasped it firmly.

“I’m ready.” Billie assured coolly. Sterling calmed, shut her eyes and within a moment Billie gasped and Sterling went limp once more into the chair.

“What happened?” Dean asked.

“I know roughly, where _Amara_ should be. Rowena your part is up.”

“But what about Sterling?” Rowena didn’t move from her position as she continued to try to wake her up.

“She’s not dead, she’s just going to be out of commission for a while. Let’s just hope it’s not going to be three weeks this time.” Billie swiftly stood up from her crouching position. “What do you need from me?”

“Wha… um… hold on.” Rowena’s mind was racing with worry for Sterling and trying to remember all the details she had given her for a spell. “Ehum, a bone from one of the first dead, whatever that means, and eh… energy from the first star.”

Billie gave Rowena a deadpan look. “You’re kidding?”

“No, why?” Rowena stepped out of the way as Castiel and Sam lifted Sterling’s body and made their way to the Infirmary, with Alex following close behind them.

“The bone I don’t have a problem with but, how am I supposed to harness energy from the first star?” Billie prodded with frustration.

“Maybe I can help?” Jack stepped closer to her with Dean right behind him giving him a worried look.

“Hey, whoa whoa. I mean you saw how she turned out.” Dean whispered huskily as he gestured to the Infirmary.

“Her situation is different. But Jack, you might be able to do what she can’t.” Billie said with a smirk creeping across her face. “Don’t worry yourself Dean. He’ll be with me, I’ll make sure he comes back in one piece.”

“Of course, I’m worried about him! How do we know he can handle something like that?” Dean grumbled. He was trying not to raise his voice, but his anger manifested in his inability to remain still.

“I believe he can.” Castiel announced as he reentered the room with Sam in tow. “From what I saw when we were in the Observatory, I think he’s capable. Rowena, do we need a portion of it or it entirely?”

“According to what she showed me, I only need a small amount.” She hurried to her bag that was resting on a shelf piled with other tomes she had left in the Bunker over the weeks. After fumbling through her bag for a few moments she drew out an empty vial about the length of her palm. Brandishing it in the air she walked back to the group and handed it to Jack. “That much will do.”

“Let me see it.” Billie reached out her hand letting Jack lay it in her palm. Within a moment it turned from an ordinary glass vial to a jet black one with runes covering its length. “That should do it.” She nodded as she handed it back to Jack who shakily took it and admired the intricate rune work. “Right well, we better be off. My guess is this should take a day or two your time for us to get our end, leaving you guys to get the rest. Sound good?” Billie gave a look of determination to everyone around the room.

“He better come back whole.” Dean mumbled under his breath. Billie gave him a firm look which made him fold his arms across his chest and lean against a chair with his head turned down. He wasn’t about to acknowledge her asserting her dominance at him with her eyes.

“He’ll be fine. Good luck everyone, see you in a few days.” Billie announced as she placed a firm hand on Jack’s shoulder and they both disappeared in a blink. Sam sighed to release some of the anxiety he had built up during the panic of the last hour as he flopped into a chair nearest him.

“How’s she…” Dean started, but Castiel’s frown and slight shake of his head was answer enough. “Well, Rowena what’s our end?” Dean turned his attention to Rowena who was relaxing in a chair while rubbing her temples with the tips of her fingers.

“Well, all that’s left is to collect…” She took a deep breath of relief and pondered for a moment. “The four elements of the Earth, easy. Power created by humans, not so easy. And blood or essence of a being that is considered close to _Amara_.” She paused for a moment, “That one I’m not so sure about. It could mean anyone in this room, or even Sterling herself.”

“I guess we’ll leave that bit for when she wakes up.” Sam sighed.

“If she wakes up.” Dean mumbled under his breath, which received a stern look from Castiel. Dean frowned in response and cleared his throat. “So, all this… stuff that we’re having to collect for some, spell I’m guessing. What is it all for? Did she mention that?” Dean asked giving a puzzled look at Rowena.

“Sadly she didn’t, or if she did I completely missed it.” She frowned as if she was trying to grab something that was slipping away from her. “It was all so fast and… not terribly descriptive. The words and images she used to describe some of it were… not very clear.”

“I had the same problem when she was searching through my memories.” Castiel interjected. “She said I _read like stereo instructions._” Dean chuckled at that then returned to brooding as Castiel gave him an odd look. He pondered a few moments more. “And she sounded distant to me.”

“Well, what’s the alternative?” Jody interjected, now having some questions of her own. She leaned on the table with her arms extended, Donna right behind her with her arms crossed deep in her own thoughts.

“When _Chuck_ spoke to us it was always loud and clear. Hers sounded muffled and distant.”

“What would be the reason behind that, ya reckon?” Donna queried.

“I’m not sure, but maybe it’s due to the fact that she was not the one to create us.”

“Then what’s her deal? Why whenever she uses her powers it seems to cause her to shut down? We never saw anything like that with _Chuck_.” Dean postulated.

“You’re not wrong there. It’s gotta be something she’s hiding. Like it may have something to do with this plan of hers.” Sam hypothesized.

“Well I’ll tell ya one thing Sammy. You were right. She’s definitely not human.” Dean joked. Sam snickered at that.

“Well, whatever it is…” Rowena started as she gracefully lifted herself from her seat. “We better get started.”

“Right, I’ll do some research online.” Sam declared as he rushed to his laptop on the other side of the table.

“I’ll check the archives for anything that sounds close to power created by man. Whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean.” Dean grumbled as he took to the library and started manually looking through the files.

“I’ll help.” Castiel joined Dean in searching on the opposite wall of files.

“Right well, I’m going to figure out how we’re supposed to combine all this mess once we have everything. Hopefully Sterling will wake up soon and I can ask her directly.” Rowena sighed as she grabbed her tome off the table and proceeded to filter through her stack on the shelf nearby.

“Anything we can do?” Jody asked loudly.

“Yea, I know you guys were getting calls and stuff from your people. I am too. I just don’t know if anyone should leave…” Sam wondered aloud.

“My guess is she gathered all of us for something, even us two. We’ll stick around for however long. Give me the numbers of your people and Jody and I will coordinate.” Donna interjected. Jody gave her a slight smile, but behind it her worry for her friends was starting to mount up. As Sam started jotting down all the numbers from his cell phone a loud cough came from the other side of the war room.

“And what do you suppose I do?” Claire asked loudly.

“I could really go for a famous Bomb-ass sandwich right now.” Dean called from the library.

“The hell are those?” Sam called back at him.

“You got it Dean.” Announced Claire using a tone of annoyance to conceal her giddiness at him actually liking her sandwiches.

“It’s what she calls them.” Jody whispers to Sam.

“Alright then.” He snickered as he continued jotting down numbers.

Within the next few hours of searching through paperwork, online forums, encyclopedias, and answering phone calls from people seeking advice or help in dealing with situations outside; everyone was pooped. Even after Claire returned with a platter stacked high with her signature sandwiches that dwindled to only a few sitting lonely on the silver platter. Claire had taken a few to Alex who graciously took them and set them aside to be forgotten. Dean had passed out in a thick binder describing different aspects of power by different beings. Sam’s face was zoned out as he mindlessly scrolled through numerous webpages without even reading a single word. Jody and Donna were nodding in and out themselves as they continued to keep in contact with people through texting. Castiel however was still going strong and pulling multiple books off the shelves and swiftly skimming the pages then putting them back after having found nothing. The books he did find anything of note he set on the table that Dean was passed out at. Claire was fishing through her tablet for any information she could find herself, but found she was tired as well. After realizing she wasn’t getting anywhere, she stood up scooting the chair along the floor, the shrieking noise it made woke up everyone in a stupor.

“Well I’m going to bed. I can’t stare at another webpage any longer. Night everyone.” She waved as she headed to her room.

“I think I’ll head off too.” Dean mumbled as he wiped some dribble from the side of his mouth. He stood up with a groan and followed Claire’s lead.

One by one, everyone resigned to their rooms except Castiel who kept on his search. After a few more hours of pulling anything related to power he decided it was a good time to check on Sterling. On his way to the Infirmary he wondered if Alex had gone to bed herself. He got his answer as soon as he entered the room, and found a slouched Alex completely passed out in a chair next to Sterling’s bed. He pulled off a top cover from one of the beds and walked softly to her and gently covered her in its plushness. Once he felt he covered her sufficiently he gazed at Sterling. Her face was still drained of all color, her long red hair curled and waved all around her. Her chest faintly rose and fell, Alex had put an oxygen tube in her nose. Even though it wasn’t necessary it was a strong indicator of just how worried she was. Castiel sat on the side of her bed as he played back everything that happened before and after when she was fishing through his memories. Not once did she think of herself in those instances, even when doing the things she did caused her great pain.

“You’re a lot like someone I know.” Castiel whispered, knowing she wasn’t around to hear it. “And I hope, when all this is over.” He looked around the room then back to her face. “We can help you in some way.” He sat there in silence for a few minutes just pondering their situation and what he could do to make it at all easier. After spending some time just in her presence, he stood up slowly to keep the bed from creaking and waking up Alex. As he walked back toward the war room softly, he heard something rustle. He spun around to see it had just been Alex adjusting herself in her chair. He sighed with slight frustration as he turned back around to walk out.

“You already are…”

His eyes shot open wide as he spun around so fast his vision took a moment to catch up. He stared at Sterling who was still lying motionless save for the almost imperceptible rising and falling of her chest. He then turned his vision to Alex who remained in the same position, still as passed out as before. _“I must be hearing things. Could it be residual from when she was in my memories?”_ he thought to himself as he continued watching Sterling for a few moments more before finally deciding to leave the room to return to his searching. The words said as a whisper banged around in his head the entire time he kept searching, lingering on until he could hear the faint noises of people slowly waking up.

Jody and Dean tag-teamed the breakfast making as Jody started making the bacon and some of the eggs then passed it off to Dean when he finally followed his stomach into the kitchen. One by one the groggy people still dressed in their nightgowns or the same clothes from the day before, waltzed into the kitchen for their morning preparations. As Dean finished up breakfast Jody and Donna were back on the phones talking to people who had tried to call them in the night. Sam took a cup of coffee and a plate to Alex who was still asleep in her chair and set it on a rolling tray near her. After taking midmorning to waking up and getting their caffeine fix everyone returned to their respective roles. Castiel was now fine-tuning his filtering as he searched deeper into the volumes he pulled. Rowena was beside him comparing some notes from what the Men of Letters had collected to her own, not finding much use in the majority of it.

Alex wandered lazily into the war room around noon asking for a spare tablet or laptop so she could help search as she waited for Sterling to wake up. Dean, after erasing a few icons and deleting a bit of his history gave her his laptop to do the searching on. She carried it as if it had a viral disease and walked back to the Infirmary, sanitizing it as soon as she got there. After a few more hours of filtering Dean angrily slammed a book down on the table and stormed out of the library. Sam out of concern pulled himself from his research and followed Dean who he found in the kitchen angrily making a sandwich for himself. As Sam entered the doorway and gave a light knock on the wall announcing himself, Dean mid bite looked a bit shocked to see him.

“You alright?” Sam asked.

Dean chewed his bite maybe twice before swallowing it before answering. “Yea, it’s just…” he set his single bite sandwich down on his napkin he was using as a plate. “I got nothing. Tell me you at least got something.”

“I’m not spotting anything myself. I kept looking up sources of power like windmills or the gas we use on cars, but I just don’t think any of that fits. I mean we won’t or can’t ask about anything until Sterling wakes up.” He sighed as he took a seat at the table. “Did Alex mention anything to you about her?”

“Other than she’s still out. No. Has Cas seemed a bit off to you?” Dean questioned as he stuffed his sandwich into his mouth, taking another massive bite.

“No, not really. Why? Did he say something?” Sam gave a look between confusion and worry.

“Not to me… I wonder if she did something to him, ya know.” Dean pointed to his head.

“She said it wouldn’t hurt him before they went under.”

“Yea, and she said it would take her roughly fifteen minutes to go diving in his head. It was over an hour they were both out.” Dean angrily swallowed his bite and tossed his half-eaten sandwich down. He spun around to the fridge to grab a beer. “Want one?”

“Sure.” Sam said while in thought. Dean tossed him a bottle that Sam caught without thinking, popped the cap, and downed a decent gulp. “Maybe it was like what happened between Naomi and Jack when they were using the Observatory? Maybe she rerouted anything that could harm Cas into herself?”

“You heard how she described his… head. Like stereo instructions. How’s that for a call of confidence on her part?”

“I don’t know Dean, have you tried asking Cas yourself?” Sam loudly asked, growing frustrated, but knew most of this was onset by Dean’s hunger.

“N-no… not yet.” Dean mumbled.

“I’d say start there. Don’t assume.”

“Yea, I know. I’m just worried.” Dean grumbled leaning over what was left of his sandwich.

“We all are. We’ll figure it out. Same as always.” Sam stated confidently as he took another sip of his beer. As he finished his sip the lights in the kitchen flickered on and off briefly for a minute.

“The hell was that?” Dean asked. “Something wrong with the breaker?”

“Couldn’t be. We checked it after that horde last time.” Sam looked at the light with confusion.

“I’ll check just to be sure. I’m sure the router needs rebooting.” Dean stated as he walked out, what was left of his sandwich in his mouth toward the breaker box.

“Got it.” Sam followed suit and headed back toward the war room taking his beer with him.

After a few minutes of flicking the switches and testing the circuits a few times, Sam and Dean couldn’t find anything wrong and put it in the back of their mind as they continued their research. Later that afternoon Jody, Donna, and Claire decided to make a food run and to check on nearby towns to see how they were faring. Rowena and Castiel were still comparing notes and talking amongst each other about different occult and ethereal sources of power that could’ve been implemented or created by man. But after a few hours they started to grate on each other’s nerves and Castiel found himself subconsciously trying to distance himself from her by checking the same bookshelf he had checked the night before, for the 18th time. Dean seized the opportunity to confront Castiel about his suspicions as he slowly walked up to him, pretending to be deep in thought about a book of vampiric power.

“How you doin’ over here Cas?” Dean whispered, slightly spooking Castiel who was in his own mind at the time.

“I’m fine Dean. Have you found anything?”

“No, nothing yet.” Dean shut his book and set it on the table next to him. He cleared his throat which was a clear sign to Castiel that Dean was wanting to inquire about something but was having a hard time finding the right set of words.

“If you’re concerned about what she might have done to me while in my head, don’t be. I’m perfectly fine.” Castiel assured, putting a book he was holding back on the shelf.

“Are you sure you’re ok? I mean you both were out for a long time.” Dean whispered.

“I’m aware, Dean.” Castiel stated tersely. He didn’t like what Dean might’ve been implying, that she screwed up his mind. Dean was now leaning against a chair next to Castiel as if he wasn’t budging unless he got a clear answer. Castiel huffed out a burst of air through his nose as he turned himself to face Dean fully. “Look, I understand you’re worried but right now is not the time to be doing this.”

“I just want to know how it went in there. That’s all.” Dean blinked and spoke slowly to show he was not trying to come across as confrontational. He did eat after all.

Castiel sighed as he didn’t really want to delve back into even thinking about all that went on in there. But he could tell Dean wasn’t going to leave until he told him something to appease his anxieties. He sighed as he tried to find the right words to describe how it was.

“At first it was nothing but darkness. But I could hear her voice, as faint and distant as anything but it was there.”

“Could you see her?” Dean interrupted.

“No, but I knew she was there. She warned me about how everything was supposed to go but while I was fine, it seemed every memory we went through caused her pain.”

“How many memories did you guys go through?”

“Uh… three in total. The last one was the one we needed.”

“What happened after that?”

“That was it. Then I-we woke up.” Castiel summarized.

“You both were out for over an hour, for three memories? Wow.” Dean remarked that last word with a bit of sarcasm, which was not lost on our angel.

Castiel paused to think a moment. “She did mention that she’s done this before on beings of her own design.”

“So, since she didn’t create you it was like trying to read someone else’s handwriting?”

“Similar to that I’d imagine.” Castiel finished, his mind replaying how she reacted after the fact. Dean could tell he was still dwelling on something and decided rather than question any further to try to cheer his angel up.

“Well, it’s not your fault she came out like that.”

“No, I think she knew it was going to turn out like that.”

“But she said she’s not omniscient.”

“She said she’s not _completely_ omniscient. Meaning maybe she could see certain things, but not others?” Castiel rambled.

“If she knew things were going to happen then why didn’t she say?” Dean asked while starting to get frustrated about trying to piece the mindset of a _God_ together. It was not something he found enjoyment in, that’s for sure.

“I’m not sure but she did…” Castiel started, but just as he was about to finish his thought the lights flickered heavily again, then shut off completely.

“What the hell?” Dean grumbled as she stood from his leaning position. “Sammy!”

“Yea! I have no idea!” Sam called from the other room. “The laptops turned off too!”

“Seriously, what the hell!?” He shouted louder this time.

Suddenly the lights turned back on, all the electronics returned to life as well leaving everyone dumbfounded. Sam and Dean took to inspecting the breaker box and even going so far as to check outside for anything that could’ve caused a short. Once they returned inside without so much as an inkling of how their power could be fluctuating Jody, Donna, and Claire returned from their food excursion.

“Chow time folks!” Jody called while dropping a bucket of chicken on the war room table.

“Hey Jods, did anything strange happen to you out there just now?” Sam asked in a hurry.

“Uh… no. Why?”

“The power didn’t go out for you guys maybe? Like in the car, your phones, or anything?”

“Um no, Sam is something going on?” Jody asked with worry starting to build up.

“Everything here, in the Bunker just… died. The lights, our phones, the laptops. Everything.”

Jody’s face was a mixture of shock and confusion as she tried, herself, to find a logical explanation. “What the hell.”

“That’s what I said!” Dean announced as he rejoined them in the war room after checking the breaker box one last time. “I’ve got nothing.”

Without warning the lights went off again, Sam ran to his laptop while simultaneously pulling out his phone to check on it. He held up his blacked-out phone and spun around his equally darkened laptop. Words were useless as it was plain to see everything was off. Jody, out of curiosity pulled her phone out of her back pocket, sure enough hers was pitch black as well, even after a few attempts at turning it back on. Rowena was sitting in her chair completely flustered at the lack of light.

“This is ridiculous!” She shouted, “How am I supposed to see what we need with the lights turning off and on?”

“Did the town over have power?” Sam asked Jody with confusion written on his face.

“Yea, everything was fine.”

“Wait…” Claire stood in the war room with her arms outstretched on either side of her, making everyone pause to look at her in anticipation. “Power… THAT’S IT!” She shouted. “A power created by humans! Electricity!”

As soon as she finished shouting her revelation the lights, computers and phones beeped and blinked back to life.

“Alright this is creepy.” Dean scoffed.

“Do you think _she_ had anything to do with it?” Sam asked quietly as if she was in the room.

“No way! She’s completely passed out, remember? Nothing like this happened last time she was out.” Dean groaned, if it was her, he felt a bit creeped out about it.

“You’re not wrong.” Castiel agreed. “But we can’t put it past her.”

“True.” Dean affirmed, running his hand through his hair as a method to calm himself down.

“Well at least we now know what we need.” Rowena summarized as she shut her tomes and began packing them away.

“So, what? We just toss in someone’s phone or something?” Claire asked. In her mind she was imagining a scene more along the lines of the end of the first Back to the Future movie, wherein they needed a bolt of lightning.

“Precisely.” She finished stacking her tomes and turned to face the group. “So, two down and one to go.”

“It’s only been about a day for Billie and Jack, she said they should be back in two days. So, possibly tomorrow?” Sam postulated.

“I just hope it doesn’t turn into another situation like what happened with me.” Castiel mumbled huskily as he looked down in thought.

“This is Billie we’re talking about.” Dean joked.

Everyone stood in silence for a few moments, as if everyone was taking a sigh of relief at figuring out another piece of the puzzle. Rowena clapped her hands together which drew the attention of everyone.

“Well, I’m off to take a long hot bath. No sense in getting worked up when all there’s left to do is wait.” She announced as if to instruct everyone to relax.

“Hurry up and wait. Sounds like what Dad said about the military.” Dean chuckled.

With that Rowena took to the showers, which once she got there would mysteriously turn into a room with an oversized bath. It was getting late as everyone dug into the chicken and biscuits that Jody and the gang retrieved, leaving a room with full, exhausted people. Dean was the first to declare defeat in staying awake any longer and went off to his room, shuffling his feet as he went. Sam followed suit after checking up on a few people who had been trying to reach him. Jody and Donna stayed up a while longer to do the same and give information to some folks who needed it, then after dealing with an irate sheriff who was having trouble with a ghost of a cat harassing him they called it a night and toddled off to bed. After Rowena spent nearly two hours soaking in the bath she dressed herself in her nightgown and decided to pay Alex a visit.

“Did they figure out what was going on with the power?” Alex asked sleepily.

“No, but it seemed to help us figure out the next piece of the puzzle.”

“What do you mean?” Alex asked in confusion.

“Oh, no one told you?” Rowena asked shocked.

“Tell me what?” Alex perked up now with curiosity.

“We solved it, the power created by humans was electricity.” Rowena smiled.

“Really? That’s it?” Her face turned from shock to disappointment.

“I’m glad that’s all it is. I figured it would’ve been something more difficult. Like more along the lines of what Billie and Jack are having to get.” Rowena stated as she took a seat on the side of Sterling’s bed. She looked worryingly at Sterling’s stark white face, her red hair laying in curled tussles all around her. “Any changes?”

“Nothing. Heartrate and breathing have stayed stable, but I guess none of that really matters.” Alex sighed.

“Probably not. But I’m sure she appreciates you looking out for her.” Rowena said reassuringly as she turned to look Alex in the eyes. Alex was smiling despite herself and she set down Dean’s laptop on the rolling cart next to her. As she began bundling herself up in the blanket Castiel gave her the night before, Rowena slowly stood up and wiped away creases in her nightgown with her hands as she stood. “Dear, you should get some rest. I can watch over her for a while.”

“I’m fine I can sleep…” Alex started as she bundled herself tighter into an unmovable ball.

“Tut, tut. I won’t take no for an answer. Now off with yea. I’ve got this well-handled.” She ordered as she lifted Alex to her feet, blanket still wrapped around her, and walked her out of the Infirmary, keeping a keen eye on her slowly walking to her room. Once Rowena felt she was well and truly gone she sighed a breath of relief and turned to look into the room.

“That poor girl.” Rowena mumbled under her breath. She noticed a few dishes had been left on the cart and hadn’t been cleaned yet. With a wave of her finger they washed and stacked themselves in a neat pile on the cart. Rowena took the seat that was previously occupied by Alex and covered herself with a blanket from the bed next to Sterling. Moments later Castiel stepped into the Infirmary and made his way to Rowena.

“Sent Alex to bed?” he asked gruffly.

“Of course. That poor girl will worry herself sick if she keeps this up.”

“I agree.” Castiel took a seat on the empty bed beside Sterling. “Need anything?”

“Oh no. I’m fine for now.” She smiled. Her mind started to go over the events of the day and judging by the look on Castiel’s face, she guessed he was thinking about the same thing. “Odd wasn’t it?”

“What?” he seemed to not have heard her for a moment then the question registered. “Oh, you mean the power outages?”

“Uh-huh.” She affirmed.

“They were odd.”

“I’m wondering if they were possibly signs from…” she nodded her head toward Sterling.

He first looked at Sterling then Rowena with misperception. “Can’t have been. Nothing like this happened when she was out last time.”

“True.” She started, “But the power only returned after Claire figured it out.”

Castiel didn’t reply but sat in contemplation with a stone look on his face.

“All I’m saying is, I wouldn’t put it past her to do something like this.” She gestured with a half limp hand.

“I will admit something odd happened yesterday.” Castiel finally grumbled.

“What do you mean?”

He thought for a moment, “Yesterday after Alex fell asleep, I visited her.” He gestured with a nod to Sterling. “I… said some words, just thinking I was talking to the air. But when I was leaving, I thought I heard…” he paused avoiding eye contact with Rowena.

“Go on angel.” Rowena goaded impatiently.

“I could’ve sworn I hear her say something.”

“So, what did she say? Was it possibly in reply to what you said? Come on Cas don’t leave me hanging here!”

“I said _when all this is over, I hope we can find a way to help you_. And I could’ve sworn I heard her whisper, _You already are_.” He finally looked at Rowena’s shocked face.

“And she wasn’t awake?” She asked, now in full detective mode.

“She was not.” He affirmed. “What does this mean?”

Rowena relaxed back into her chair, her eyes and mind swimming as she tried to search for a possible reason that could fit a being like Sterling. “I’m not sure. Could be residual from when she was messing about with your mind?”

“I wondered that too, but I don’t feel any different.” Castiel remarked.

“Then I have no clue.” She sighed as slouched in her chair in defeat.

As the night wore on Rowena eventually gave in to the power of sleep, her body curled up in a tight ball with the blanket draped over her. Castiel was still sitting on the bed, half wanting to get up and leave to just stretch his legs and the other half wanting to remain in the room in case Sterling’s disembodied voice visited him again. After a few hours he could no longer sit or stand idle in the room and decided to prowl the vast floorplan of the Bunker again. As morning arrived, everyone slowly made it out of their rooms and into the war room for breakfast. Though Alex sleepily shuffled into the room, picked up her breakfast and a few things for Rowena, and made her way to the Infirmary. Once she entered, she found Rowena casually surfing the web and looking at different news sources still giving reports and evacuation locations for people dealing with hordes of undead among other monsters. She shut the laptop after taking in as much bad news as she could stand and greeted Alex with a warm smile. “How was your sleep dear?”

“Very good, considering.” Alex smiled shyly as she handed Rowena her small plate of eggs and bacon with two biscuits precariously set on the edge. Rowena took it with pleasure but didn’t dig in as she wanted to enjoy the still hot cup of coffee that Alex was kind enough to bring. “Let me guess, nothing new.” She sighed as she sat on the side of an empty bed next to Sterling.

“Trust me dear, if she woke nobody would be asleep.” Rowena joked. Alex breathed out air through her nose as she chuckled slightly.

“You’re not kidding. I just wonder how much longer she’s going to be out.”

Rowena lowered her cup of coffee from her face as she stared in thought for a moment. “It’s odd really, Cas mentioned something happened the night before.”

“What do you mean?” Alex frowned.

Rowena informed her of the possible chance that Sterling might’ve said something to Castiel while being incapacitated, and the off chance that it could’ve just been residual from when Sterling was rooting around in his mind. Alex sat and pondered about it for a while as she slowly ate her breakfast, watching Sterling’s chest slowly rise and fall.

“Anything like that happen with you?” Rowena asked as she finished her coffee and moved onto her plate of breakfast.

“No. Nothing at all.” She didn’t break her stare as she said this, while slowly chewing her bacon. “Well actually…” Rowena waited patiently for Alex to continue, slowly eating some eggs. “It’s funny, whenever I’m around her and I fall asleep, I sleep easier. I feel like I actually sleep better when I’m near her. That’s weird isn’t it?”

“No, not weird at all. Do you have any dreams?”

“No, I don’t. But when I try to sleep in the bed in my room here, I always have a hard time, or…” she paused fearing she may come across as weird but remembered who she was talking to. “I’ll have bad nightmares.”

“So that’s why you never want to leave her side.” Rowena smiled as if she solved some great riddle.

“That and I keep thinking she’ll wake up. I want to be here when she does, unlike last time.” She looked down as if in shame.

“Oh, don’t fret dear. I’m sure she’ll wake up soon, we just have to be patient.”

Suddenly Dean popped his head around the corner of the doorway as he was passing by. “Anything?”

“No, nothing. Don’t worry Dean, you’ll know when she’s awake.” Alex called.

“Roger that, Sam and I are going on a hunt just a few miles from here. Call us when she’s up.” He announced as he continued down the hallway to the garage.

“You got it! Be careful Dean!” Alex yelled louder this time.

“YEP!” Dean bellowed.

“What do you think they’re going to hunt?”

Alex spun her head so fast her vision blurred as she locked eyes with a now fully awake Sterling, lying still in bed.

“DEAN!! DEAN! SHE’S AWAKE!” Alex screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran to the doorway, her voice bounced off the walls of the hallway. In the distance you could hear the thundering sound of running feet echoing through the halls. Sam and Dean burst through the doorway and slowed themselves to a calm walk as they neared Sterling’s bed. Within moments everyone else in the Bunker joined them but stayed at a bit of a distance to give her some room. Alex rejoined her side and leaned in to whisper to her.

“No, I think I’ll stay laying down for the moment.” Sterling whispered to her before she could even let out a word. Alex looked at her first with shock then softened the expression on her face as she took a seat on the bed next to her.

“Welcome back.” Dean panted.

“Thank you. Sorry to have kept you waiting, I’m sure I spooked you guys pretty good. So, how long this time?” Sterling sighed, she didn’t want to push herself too much, so she resorted to getting information the old-fashioned way.

“You were only out about two days.” Dean said as he checked the time on his watch.

Sterling sighed a breath of relief, “Ah that’s much better.”

“How are you feeling?” Sam asked.

“I’ve definitely been better, that’s for sure.” Sterling chuckled, “I’ll be fine, at least I wasn’t out three weeks this time. So, Billie and Jack aren’t back yet?” She asked as she tried and failed to adjust herself a bit in the bed. Her face winced in pain and Alex was instantly on her to aid her movement in any way. Sterling waved her off, deciding to give up on any movement for the moment.

“No, not yet. But we have everything else to do… whatever the hell you’re going to do.” Sam informed with a hint of sarcasm, he was wanting some answers. “Hey, is there any chance you could’ve messed with anything here?”

Sterling looked at him with confusion, “What do you mean?”

“Well the lights went on and off a few times, including every electronic in the Bunker. TV’s, phones, laptops, everything.” Dean finished.

“I don’t recall doing anything like that. When I’m out.” She used her eyes as a form of gesture as her arms remained limp at her sides. “I’m out, out.”

“Huh, alright then.” Sam sighed, he was willing to drop the subject. For now. Sterling gave him a knowing look but hid it as soon as it appeared under the guise of pain.

“So, what’s next?” Rowena asked, trying to break some of the tension.

“We, wait. Can’t do anything until Billie and Jack return with what we need.” Sterling exhaled.

“What is all this for?” Dean interrogated.

Sterling sighed, “Be patient, you’ll all see soon enough.”

“It better be sooner rather than later.”

Everyone turned to find Billie and Jack suddenly standing in the center of the room. Jack seemed a bit tired but other than that he looked fine. Billie was holding a large blackened bone that was as long as she was tall. Jack clutched the black rune riddled vial close to his chest as if it was a precious thing he didn’t want to lose.

“Jack!” Castiel shouted as he walked briskly to him and brought him into his embrace. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I have what we need.” He held out the vial to Castiel who took it carefully and inspected the outside of it looking for any changes.

“And I have the bone. Can we get this over with?” Billie asked with impatience.

Alex stood as if to say something but was interrupted by the sound of Sterling groaning as she forced herself to sit up. She spun around to try to help her, but she was waved off again.

“No better time than the present.” Sterling huffed.

“You sure you’re up for this?” Billie asked, seeing just what kind of a state Sterling was in made her now a bit worried.

“It needs to get done, everyone and everything is here. Rowena, hand me some paper and a pen.” Sterling grunted as she motioned to a notebook close to Rowena on the rolling cart. She grabbed it and fumbled to opened it to an empty page and handed a pencil into the somewhat shaky had of Sterling. Her grip was a bit weak, but she quickly drew out an intricate circle on the paper then spun it around to show everyone. “This circle, no wait… damn it.” She paused as she made a few minor adjustments to some details within it. “Ok, this circle should be drawn on the floor, place all the items in its center and I’ve got the rest.”

“Wait, what about the essence of someone close to _Amara_?” Rowena asked, feeling a bit worried about the answer and _who_ it may include.

“Me of course.” Sterling grunted in annoyance.

“Wait, can’t Dean or I do it? We had somewhat of a connection with her.” Rowena inquired.

Sterling sighed while pinching the furrow of her brow with her fingers. “If the bond isn’t strong enough the spell will rebound. And I’m sure you know all about rebounds Rowena MacLeod.” Anger built up a bit in her, she mentally scolded herself for sounding so terse. “Sorry, bit grumpy when I wake up. But do you get my point?” She asked coolly.

“I understand…” Rowena said calmly, she was a bit frightened but could tell Sterling didn’t mean anything by it. She grabbed a few beds and started to move them, everyone then pitched in to move all the beds except Sterling’s against the farthest wall, clearing the floor entirely. Then Rowena, Sam, and Dean began painting the circle on the floor using red paint that they had on hand in the storage room. The circle was more intricate than the ones they were more familiar with and took multiple looks at the notebook and a few words of direction from Sterling before she was happy. Once the paint dried sufficiently Rowena set out the items in its center; the bone, the small vial, an old laptop that Dean had on hand that was due to be trashed, and a collection of the elements of the earth in a bowl. As the final piece was set in its center Sterling slowly and with great difficulty stood up from the comfort of the bed, shooing away any assistance from anyone.

“Alright… I haven’t done it with this configuration before so everyone, stand back a bit.” She stood at the edge of the circle extending her arms out toward its center. Everyone collectively stepped back a few paces as instructed.

“What are we doing?” asked Sam.

“Making a phone call.” Sterling groaned as she focused on the center of the circle harder. As she did so, the paint began glowing a brighter shade of red, so much brighter in fact that it tinted the room entirely in red. From her body, droplets mixed with light and darkness slowly formed from her body and levitated toward the center. The items in the center vibrated violently and began floating in midair as she continued. Without warning they burst in an explosion turning into a massive black sphere that took up the entirety of the circle. Everyone in the room collectively gasped at the sight. Sterling continued to hold her hands out toward its center, still focusing hard on what was in front of her, droplets still entering the sphere in front of her. Billie stood in awe at such a sight, it was nothing like she had ever seen before. Within the pitch-black sphere with streaks of light passing every now and then, a small outline could be seen faintly in its center, but within a blink the unrecognizable outline turned into a most recognizable _Amara_. Sterling gasped, either in pain or in relief at finally seeing her, only she knew. _Amara_ looked slightly worried and confused as she groped around in the darkness that surrounded her.

“Who’s there!?” She called.

There were more than a few moments of silence as Billie took a few steps forward to get a good look at the expression on Sterling’s face. It was one of frustration as she was biting her lower lip in concentration. Billie figured she either was having to focus too hard for her to answer, or she wasn’t sure what to say. Billie squared herself up on the edge of the circle.

“_Amara_? You there?” Billie shouted at the black sphere. Sterling spun her head around to face her, but instead of an angry glare like what Billie was expecting it was a face of gratitude.

“Who is this?” _Amara_ asked a bit quieter now.

“I’m death, but I go by Billie. I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting yet.”

“No, we haven’t.” _Amara_ surmised.

_“Ask her where she thinks she is?”_ came a whisper in Billie’s mind. She gave Sterling a confused glare, but she was still focusing on the circle.

“_Amara_, where are you?”

“I’m ah… I’m in a blackhole.”

“That accounts for all the darkness. Which one? Can you tell which blackhole you’re in?” Billie prodded further.

Her face showed her contemplation as she searched her memory as to how she ended up in this predicament. “Um… I believe in BH008, in UV0000.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“How did…” _“No time. Tell her we’ll be getting her soon.”_ Billie was interrupted as Sterling practically shouted in her head making her visibly wince. “_Amara_, we’ll find a way to get you out of there soon, just hold on ok?”

“Alright. Where’s _Chuck_? Is he with you?” _Amara_ asked, her face showing flecks of worry and slight fear.

“No. Why, is there something we should be worried about?” Billie asked.

“Well, he’s…”

_Amara_’s statement was cut short as Sterling lowered her arms and the large black sphere faded into wisps of smoke, essentially disconnecting the call. She exhaled all the built-up air she had in her through gritted teeth as she tightened her hands into fists. Billie could see the pain written on her face and knew within moments she would collapse, to counter this she quickly stepped to Sterling’s side ready to give her an arm or catch her if she fell. Surprisingly Sterling stood still in place, her eyes shut tightly as she returned her breathing to normal.

“Well, that went better than expected.” She panted.

“How you holding up?” Billie whispered.

Sterling opened her eyes slightly but didn’t turn to face Billie. “Fine, just give me a moment.”

“Uh-huh don’t give me that shit, you’re not fine.”

Sterling didn’t answer or even acknowledge her true statement as she continued breathing slowly. Alex, waking from her stupor began taking a few rushed steps to Sterling but was held off by Billie raising a calm hand to her. Gently expressing that now was not the time. Sterling managed to turn her head to look at Billie, giving her an expression of slight happiness.

“Well, at least we now know exactly where she is. I had my suspicions, but I don’t have time to waste on guesses.” Sterling sighed.

“What do you mean?”

“What?”

“This isn’t the first or even the third instance I’ve heard you mention having _not enough time_. Just what is going on here?” Billie was starting to become more and more worried as she kept witnessing Sterling quickly spiraling down into something that she couldn’t see a reason for. And this she could not stand.

Sterling’s expression of initial shock of the question turned into sad remorse as she softly whimpered, “skip.”

“No! I won’t stand for this any longer, what did doing this particular spell do, other than verify where Amara is? We already figured out roughly where she was. I could’ve…”

“Do you know how many blackholes are in and around UV0000?” Sterling interrupted her with a flash of anger that made Billie’s stomach, if she had one, churn. She stood in silence as she tried to remember.

“Over 50 in that area alone. Can you tell the difference in them?” Sterling’s face was now filled with annoyance.

“S-somewhat.” Billie stuttered.

“Then tell me. If you knew roughly which one she was in, how long do you think it would take to enter each blackhole in search for her, then after finding the correct one pull her from it?” Sterling panted as her anger raised her voice to nearly a shout.

Billie’s expression of confusion and contemplation changed to shock as the realization hit her. “It would take centuries.” She took a few steps back from a still pissed Sterling. “But how can we tell which one she’s in then?”

“Did you not notice the flashes of light happening around her? Take a guess as to what is happening in order for that to happen.” Sterling was slowly calming herself as she took notice of Billie’s realization.

“That would mean… they’re converging. Multiple blackholes are converging in on hers.”

“Not just blackholes, stars, and it seems some planets are getting involved as well.” Sterling sighed. “Meaning it’s not the center of where we initially thought.”

“It’s on the outskirts. You were able to see all that?”

“I’m a creator remember?” Sterling smiled tiredly. Her body relaxed as she began collapsing on herself as the weight of the stress of everything that happened in the past few days caught up with her. Billie caught her midfall as Alex ran to the other side of her to help carry her weight. They slowly carried the somewhat limp body of Sterling who seemed to jump in and out of consciousness. She groaned loudly in pain as they gently laid her down on the bed, eliciting soft remarks of apologies from both Billie and Alex. Once she was settled in, she kept one eye open, trained on Billie as her breathing slowed. “We can’t bring her here yet.”

“Why not?” Billie asked tersely.

Sterling’s single open eye blinked slowly as Billie could tell she wouldn’t remain conscious for very much longer.

“Why not Sterling?”

“_Chuck_…” Sterling whispered as she shut her eye.

“What about _Chuck_?” Billie asked with frustration.

“Sterling! What about _Chuck_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last chapter..... I'm both happy that I'm almost done with this, but also sad it's almost over. The serious shit is going to hit the fan, I hope everyone is prepared.


	8. Carry On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING SELF HARM IN THIS CHAPTER! 
> 
> If you're sensitive to self inflicted harm, please avoid this chapter.
> 
> Sterling makes the ultimate sacrifice to amend something that was broken.

Rowena entered the reassembled Infirmary carrying a large tome that she had been lugging around. She crossed over the still visible and slightly scuffed circle on the floor to Alex who was sitting in her large comfy chair staring at the accumulating news articles bearing nothing but bad news from her laptop. She looked up realizing she wasn’t alone in the room anymore to find Rowena looking at Sterling with mild anger.

“I know…” Alex sighed.

“I’ve tried everything I could think of. Ways to see into her mind, against Castiel’s constant badgering. How to recall her celestial spirit, to merely speak with her spirit.” She set down her tome with a slight slam that rang throughout the room, not even rousing the people sleeping within it. “It’s as if she doesn’t even have one!”

“I know, I’m just as frustrated as everyone else. I don’t know what we’re supposed to do now. The boys have even slowed up on hunting, if you can believe it.” Alex remarked as she set her laptop down.

“What’s the point when it’s exactly like cutting the head of a hydra? You cut one, a thousand more appear in its place. It’s like they don’t even die anymore.” Rowena sighed as she flopped onto an empty bed. “Eight months. Eight bloody months since she went under. What are we supposed to do?!”

“I don’t know.” Alex resigned to just watch Sterling and keep up with the news on the outside during her downtime. Sterling’s body had shriveled in the months that passed, the only thing keeping her body alive was the mountains of fluids and a feeding tube through her nose putting as much sustenance into her as they could get their hands on. It was round-the-clock care that Alex provided that kept her body from shutting down entirely. She didn’t take serious notice of her condition until four months into Sterling’s coma, which gave her a serious fright when Sterling’s breathing stopped altogether.

The world was in dire straits, nothing the boys did or didn’t do mattered much anymore. There were just too many things going bump in the night and during the day, and not enough manpower to deal with it. The Bunker turned into that of an operational military base, recruiting as many able-bodied hunters and new hunters as possible. Bobby even came out of retirement and joined with Jody and Donna in running operations. The Infirmary was semi-full of injured or just sleeping people who needed rest after hours of endless hunting. Housing, food, and weapons were given to all who needed them, those who could help in any way offered their services. If Armageddon was ever a thing, it was clearly happening here and now, more so than all the other times before.

“Heard anything from Billie?” Alex asked with some hesitation.

“She did her daily check-in and said to keep her posted should anything change.” Rowena sighed. “She can’t be dead, could she?”

“I honestly don’t know. Her body is still breathing and taking fluids but other than that… I just don’t know Row.”

“I’m beginning to worry we’re waiting for someone who’ll never wake up.”

Alex gave her a sad look, “Dean mentioned the same thing.”

“He did? When? I thought he avoided this room like the plague. He was mad at her more than anythin’.”

“A few weeks ago. He stopped in, I caught him as he was leaving. Cas seems to still have hope.” She perked up as she tried to change the tone into something a little more upbeat, which was promptly shot down by Rowena’s deadpan frown.

“Then he’s a fool. We’ve got no one but ourselves now. Billie’s been putting her plan into motion. She said she nearly has everything together, but she’ll need a bit more time.”

“Oh yea, her plan to… SAM! Sam, I need you really quick!” Alex caught sight of Sam seeming to storm off toward either the kitchen or the garage, as soon as he heard his name being shouted, he stopped, breathed a heavy sigh and spun around to enter the Infirmary.

“What’s up Alex?” He seemed annoyed by something, Alex guessed it was most likely Dean’s doing or something related to Dean.

“We’re all out of gauze and rubbing alcohol, oh and if you could somehow make a blood run that’d be super. Running low on A+ and O-. Also, any news yet on…” she motioned her head toward the war room.

“No, still can’t figure it out, um but Dean and I will get on the blood and med run. Text me if you need anything else.” He huffed as he promptly raced out of the Infirmary.

“Wonder what that was all about?” Rowena asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow toward Alex once Sam was out of earshot.

“Well, you know since Cas and Jack are off doing what they can, it’s kind of… set Dean off, I guess. I mean we haven’t seen them in two weeks.”

“I still get text messages from Jack though. They seem to be running into all sorts of trouble the poor devils. But nothing to get all worked up about, just what is going on I wonder?” Rowena raised herself on her elbows to take a good look at the state of the room around her.

“I’m not sure. But how’s your end holding up?”

“You mean the circle Billie’s asked me to research? Already done. I had that ages ago, told her as much myself. But it seems we’re missing more than a few pieces. Either that or she’s getting cold feet.” Rowena sighed.

“I don’t get cold feet.” Billie scoffed as she instantly materialized into the room, standing between Rowena and Alex, who leapt up in surprise. “In fact, I never get cold. Here.” Billie extended her arm outward to Rowena holding a fairly large leather-bound bundle. It clinked and jittered as it changed hands eliciting eyes of confusion from Rowena. “Everything is ready. Call everyone together, we’re doing this.” She gave a stone-cold glare to the still body of Sterling as if she was going to wake in response.

“Are you sure? I mean, I don’t know if the boys are…” Before Rowena could finish her question, Billie moved them both into a prepared room far away from the Bunker. It was dark and the overhead lights barely lit up the floor, which was covered in an intricate circle. Though not as detailed as the one used for the phone call to _Amara_ it held enough information for Rowena to get the gist of what was soon to happen.

“Wait here.” Billie ordered.

One by one; Cas, Jack, Dean, Sam, Jody, Claire, and Donna were all spawned into the room. Once everyone was accounted for Billie reappeared in the center of the circle brandishing her scythe. “Jack, do you have what I gave you?”

“Y-yes. We’re doing this now?” He held out his hand extending another blackened vial bearing the same runes as the one used for the phone call.

“Yes, we’re doing this now. I’ve been more than patient. I’m done waiting, this is happening whether _she_ likes it or not.” Billie snatched the vial from Jack hissing her words as she did so. “Rowena, get it started.” Her anger was more than visible, and no one dared move against her.

Rowena started laying out the bundled items Billie had handed to her previously, noticing a certain lack of an element that was required for the spell that they were casting. “Billie, it seems I’m missing something…”

“A scarred soul. Take your pick.” Billie eyed the people in the room.

“I’m sorry?” Rowena asked hesitantly.

“Everybody here fits under that title, choose one.”

“I can’t make that choice, I…”

“I’ll choose then.” Billie started moving toward Jack, causing everyone to shout in defiance.

“Take me.” Dean announced. His face showing his stone determination against Sam’s silent pleas.

“Are you sure Dean?” Billie drawled.

“Positive.”

“I can’t bring you back from this. Not this time. Once you go through with this, that’s it.” Billie clarified, her words dripping from her lips with a hint of anger.

“I’m fine with that.”

“Wait, do I need a whole soul or just a portion?!” Rowena shouted, not liking the situation she was being shoved in.

“For this…” Billie turned her head to look her in the eye. “All of it.”

Sam and Dean’s phones started to ring loudly in their pockets, they hurriedly pulled their phones out to answer. Billie made a swift gesture with her hand causing the phones to disappear.

“We’re going through with this. No interruptions, no breaks, nothing!”

“What if I give half of my soul and Dean gives the other half? Would that work?” Sam stuttered.

Billie stood in place showing no expression on her face as she mulled the question over.

“Can it be done?” Sam asked raising his voice more than he intended to.

“I don’t care if it sucks the soul from both of you. In my eyes, once you two are gone I’ll have even less to worry about. Rowena can it be done?” She huffed.

Rowena’s eyes flitted across each item in front of her and the runes on the floor as she attempted to run the scenario in her mind. After a few moments of thought Billie tapped her scythe on the floor in impatience, waking Rowena from her thoughts.

“Y-yes. I think so.”

“Then if that’s possible, can’t all of us pitch in?” Jody asked stepping in timidly.

“No, Jody not…” Dean started but was interrupted by the hand of Donna that was raised as she too stepped forward.

“The more the merrier. You boys shouldn’t have to shoulder this any longer. It’s up to _us_, remember? _Us_. We’re all in this, together.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Stated Castiel as he joined in followed by Jack as he slowly stepped beside him.

“If this is what saves the world, so be it.” Alex joined in.

Billie sighed realizing there was no helping these people. “Do whatever needs to be done, just get it started already.” She tapped her scythe on the ground once more as she exited the circle in a blink.

Rowena began directing everyone to a certain location on the circle ensuring that no one person would get focused more than the other regarding their souls. Once she felt satisfied with their locations she began mixing and putting the items gathered by Billie in the center. First an old almost human arm or leg bone that was broken in half, a jar of possibly congealed blood with a frothy green foam on its surface, a golden sphere with intricate designs covering it, and the small black vial. She laid them out on the innermost circle equidistant to each other in all four directions, leaving her at the center. Rowena was having a constant nagging feeling in the back of her mind screaming for her not to go through with this. As she checked everything over one last time, she could feel her stomach drop as she knew what was to come next. “I need the words.”

“I already gave you the words. Do you seriously need them again?” Billie was more than annoyed at Rowena by this point.

“I’m afraid I do. I don’t want to get the incantation wrong.”

Billie snapped her fingers and Rowena jerked in place and breathed heavily for a few moments then calmed. “Thank you.” She gasped.

“Get on with it.”

Everyone stared at Rowena with worried eyes, they didn’t know just what was going on to make even Rowena hesitate before a spell, but they figured it wasn’t anything good. She raised her arms out in front of her and lifted her head to better speak the words of incantation.

“IAODIPAM ODULIPAMIS: DS LOHOLO,” The ground shook as she began the incantation, her eyes and body starting to glow brightly. Everyone in the room shielded their eyes from the increasing brightness emanating from Rowena.

“AAI TA PIAPBALTOH ODVAOAN,” She continued, each word booming through the air. Squinting through the brightness Dean could see Rowena was shaking in place violently and blood was starting to drip from her mouth, nose and ears. He stepped forward but was being held in place by an unseen force.

“ROWENA, STOP! JUST STOP! WE’LL TRY SOMETHING ELSE!”

“SHE CAN’T STOP DEAN!” Billie shouted from behind him. “THE SPELL WILL REBOUND IF SHE DOES!”

“WHAT’LL HAPPEN IF SHE KEEPS GOING?!”

“BILLIE!?”

“BILLIE YOU SAID…”

“I SAID I WOULD HELP YOU DEAL WITH _CHUCK_! THIS IS A MEANS TO AN END!”

“THIS IS BULLSHIT!”

“ZACAR CAOD ZAMRAN ODOCICLE,” She closed her eyes, _“Only two more.”_ She could feel a strong force within her building up, as if a pot on the brink of overboiling. She gritted her teeth and ignored the strong taste of iron in her mouth.

“ROWENA YOU HAVE TO STOP! THIS CAN’T BE IT!” Sam screamed as loud as he could. Her mind thought back to the knowledge that, according to Billie, Sam was the one to kill her in the end. She held tightly onto that belief like a rope in a hurricane.

“QAA ZORGE LAP ZIRDO,” A blast of air and light burst from within her and pushed everyone within the circle to its edge, knocking everyone onto their backs with its sheer force. The center was engulfed in a bright light, giving no signs of any solid form in its center. Small tendrils of light extended from it, traveling slowly to each person standing in the circle as they slowly got to their feet. Sam and Dean looked to each other then to everyone else within the circle, eyes wide with fear as each tendril made contact with their bodies. The feeling was indescribable as their souls were slowly being extracted from them, but the screaming could be clearly heard for anyone who was within a mile radius.

“Patience… is a virtue you know.”

A loud snap shook the air and the bright mass of light was immediately extinguished leaving a limp and lifeless Rowena on the floor. Everyone else who was in the circle collapsed onto their hands and knees coughing violently for a few moments before searching the room for the source. Sam and Dean shakily got back on their feet as their eyes finally landed on the one being, they didn’t expect to see appear in the center of the circle, standing over Rowena’s lifeless body.

“You know, if you wanted to talk you could’ve just called.” _Chuck_ joked. His outward appearance hadn’t changed one bit from the last time Sam and Dean had seen him. Memories of him smiting Jack started to flood back as they immediately took up defensive positions. But something was off about how _Chuck_ was holding himself, moving his hands and darting his eyes between each person as he examined everyone and everything in the room. He was scared.

“Bout time you showed up. I was beginning to wonder if you were even still around.” Billie remarked coolly.

“Hi Billie. Um, just answer me this one question.”

“And what, pray tell, would that be?” she skirted around the outside of the circle walking slowly and tapping her scythe as she walked, almost like she was circling her prey.

“What were you hoping to gain from this particular spell?” He asked hesitantly.

“It did what I wanted. I figured if I rattled your cage enough, you’d show up. And wouldn’t you know it, I was right.”

“But this spell wasn’t to summon me, or really to do much of anything…”

“It did, what I wanted it to do. You’re here. And you…” she tapped the edge of the circle with her scythe igniting hidden runes from underneath the paint. “Aren’t going anywhere.”

“How did you find that?” _Chuck_ asked with a hushed panicked tone.

“I could go into detail, but I really don’t want to. Long and short of it is, nothing stays hidden for long, there are ways, you just have to dig deep enough to find them. But you must know what’s coming next?”

“Where’s Sterling?” the panic in his voice dripped from his lips and tainted the air around him, causing everyone within earshot to become frightened along with him.

“Nowhere, dead? I really don’t care. I’m doing what I’ve been planning for a long, long time, _Chuck_.” Billie gave him a sly smile that simply read as _“I’ve got you now, and I’m never letting go.”_

Chuck started looking around the circle frantically as if checking each and every rune wringing his hands together in dread. Sam and Dean contaminated with the same fear as Chuck started grouping everyone together in one location as if their numbers were going to help them. Rowena’s body laid in the center of all the chaos, still and motionless as the runes began glowing brighter and brighter. Chloe, in a fit of fear turned to the edge of the circle and attempted to step out. As soon as the tip of her shoe exited the invisible barrier, it began crumbling as if it were made of ash. She screamed in terror and pulled her foot back into her body before it reached any farther than her heel. Jody was on her in a second to assess just what was happening to her. “Boys we have a problem.” Sam and Dean swiveled their heads around to peak at just what Jody may have been referring to. They crouched down in shock to assess the damage. “She still has her foot at least. How?”

“I tried to leave.” Chloe cried.

They looked past the edge of the circle at the uncaring Billie who appeared to be readying herself to continue the new spell she kickstarted.

“Cas, any of this look familiar?” Dean shouted above the dull roar that was emanating from the floor. Castiel shook himself from his daze and began giving the runes below him a closer inspection.

“I…” he looked at Chuck who was still running around the circle as if testing each location for weak spots. “I don’t know Dean. This, all this. It’s beyond even me.”

Dean stood up quickly and stomped his way toward Chuck, each step building his anger within him until he was practically fuming once he was close enough to place a hand on his shoulder. He spun Chuck around on the spot, eliciting a look of shock as he was face to face with a steaming Dean. “What’s going on?!” Dean shouted over the growing roar from the glowing runes beneath them. Chuck looked around him in panic while Dean shook his shoulders to bring his attention to him. Blinking a few times and finally making eye-contact with Dean he attempted to straighten himself in Dean’s grasp.

“Can’t you tell, you’re getting what you wished for. A way to kill me. I think…” He stopped as he grasped Dean’s arms to anchor himself. “But this circle, it doesn’t mean what I thought it meant.” Dean gave him a look that very clearly meant _get to the point already. _“It’s not a circle to kill someone like me, but maybe a way to trap me?” He scoffed lightly, the idea seeming impossible to him.

“Could it be the same way you trapped Amara?” Dean asked giving him a furious look. The realization hit Chuck and he began to panic even more. Dean’s grasp tightened a bit as he loomed over Chuck. “How do we break this?”

Chuck gulped down his fear, “we don’t.”

“There’s always a way. What is it?”

“It would take a phenomenal force in order to even…”

Chuck was interrupted by a sudden flash of light that appeared in the room. Everything was illuminated brightly from one point outside of the circle. A loud snap emanated from the light and every human was displaced into a small boxy well-lit room with many chairs facing a massive flat black wall that seemed to be made of glass. Billie was also in the room looking dumbfounded and a bit peeved that Chuck was nowhere to be seen.

“What the hell just happened?!” Dean shouted and stomped his way to Billie.

Sam found Rowena’s lifeless body laying in front of the glass wall, and he began trying to gently rouse the poor woman. “Rowena, wake up. Come on.” He whispered while checking her pulse.

“How is she?” Alex asked, walking tenderly toward them.

“She’s alive, barely.” As soon as the words left his lips Rowena gasped awake and began taking in the room they were now in.

“What the bloody…” She whispered grasping her chest in slight pain.

“Whoa, whoa take it easy. You alright?” Alex inquired as they both guided Rowena to the nearest chair.

“I feel…” she swallowed hard. “I feel alright, I guess. Thought I’d gone for real there.”

“So did we.” Sam chuckled.

Dean’s angry tirade was still emanating from where Billie was standing on the other side of the room. Sam turned to see Dean angrily shouting at Billie who had her head in her hands in contemplation, seeming to be ignoring the onslaught of verbal diarrhea being slung at her.

“I better go get him before he does something stupid.” Sam remarked with a sigh, making his way grudgingly toward the still fuming Dean.

“…didn’t you tell us about the spell you were trying to do? What the hell even was that?”

“Dean come on, she’s not going to answer us. Come on, let’s figure out where we are.” Sam grabbed both shoulders and began turning his body away from Billie to direct him toward the new room they were now occupying. Billie took no notice of their leaving as she was still in contemplation with her head in her hands. As Sam brought Dean to the middle of the room, they began giving it a closer look.

“There’s something odd here.” Sam started; it was a clever tactic to get Dean to switch his state of mind that worked every time.

“Yea… Like what is up with this wall?” Dean mumbled as he tenderly placed a hand on the cool black glass.

“And why are there as many chairs as there are people?” Sam added. Dean spun around to count them himself. “No kidding, not counting Billie over there.” They looked above them at the florescent lights in the ceiling above and tried to tell just what type of material the walls themselves were. Jody, Donna, and Claire had taken their seats, after already spending a few moments inspecting the room and were talking amongst each other on where they think they could be.

“There aren’t any doors either.” Sam remarked. Everyone looked at each wall, corner, and even a glance at the ceiling for any kind of opening. There was nothing. Sam walked over to Billie to try to get some answers in a more peaceful manner, while trying to control his inner rage.

“Billie, we could really use your help here. Got any…” He stopped. He looked closer at her hands, then her face. It was as if she was a statue, frozen in time. “Um, Dean. I don’t think Billie is with us.”

“What are you talking about of course she…” The scolding sentence died as he finally noticed himself. He snapped his fingers and waved his hands in her face as a test. No reaction. Nothing. “Ok, seriously. What the hell?!”

“You got me.” Sam sighed.

The lights above them began slowly dimming into complete darkness and the flat black wall gradually began displaying many specs and flashes of light. As if it were a terrible wipe transition from one of the prequels from Star Wars, but it crawled upward just as slow as the opening text. Everyone gasped as the glass revealed the sight of a spinning galaxy that filled the room with impossible colors.

“Please take your seats.” Came a booming voice that no one could place.

Sam and Dean, the only two standing in awe of the sight in front of them took the remaining empty seats in the center of the small room. There was a sudden shake as the room jerked upward, or forward, or was it backward, from their location. They were being flung through space at an incredible speed while not feeling any of the force one would normally feel if you took the proper equipment from Earth. Gasps could be heard from everybody as they traveled and witnessed sights normal humans of their era would never get to see. Within moments they were well beyond all galaxies into a pocket of almost nothing, but then the room spun around showing them a massive universe that took up the entirety of the wall.

“Billie.” The voice came again. Billie came to life with a slight gasp and was shocked by the sight in front of her.

“What’s going on? What just happened?” Billie started.

“Billie, you must retrieve Amara.” The voice boomed again, ignoring her questions entirely.

“Oh no, see I was…” Her body stopped mid motion as a light flashed in her eyes, and she righted herself and said in a flat tone, “Fine.” In a blink she was gone. The room rose till it was high above the massive universe until what looked like a translucent red sphere came into view.

“What is that, a planet?” Dean asked.

“Can’t tell.” Sam squinted and nearly made a motion to get closer to the glass but was stopped by the sudden jerk forward as they glided closer to it. As the orb became larger and clearer in view Rowena gasped loudly. “That’s no planet. Look! There’s runes!” She extended a long pointy finger in its direction as the room closed in on it, allowing the intricate spinning and circling runes to be better seen. It looked as if many different circles were spinning in on each other creating a massive ball of red runes glowing brightly.

“Who’s that standing in the center of it?” Chloe asked squinting against the red glow, trying to see past the runes and symbols impeding a clear sight of a shape in its center.

Dean squinted with her trying to make it out himself, and upon realization gasped. “It’s Chuck.”

“No way!” Sam reacted shocked, trying to confirm this with his own eyes. Chuck was seeming to be standing on something unseen in the center of the sphere with his head hung down on his chest as if asleep. “It is. Just what is going on?”

“All of you will soon find out.” The booming voice stated flatly. The room stopped gliding forward toward the sphere once it reached a certain distance from the edge of the spinning runes. “Once Billie arrives with Amara, we can begin.”

“What’s going to begin?” Sam called out.

“Skip.”

“Sterling?” Dean asked loudly with a shocked tone. “How are you…”

“Here? Alive? Doing this?” her voice chuckled. “Don’t worry, everything will be explained.”

Billie appeared between the sphere and the room with an inoculated Amara. “Where do you want her?” Her voice could be heard clear as day by those inside the room as they watched. She released the floating body of Amara as it vanished and reappeared next to Chuck. The both of them standing next to each other completely unaware of what was going on, in a daze all their own. “Now what?” Billie asked, seeming a bit scared of what was going to happen next. On the left side of the glass next to the sphere a being mixed with light and dark swirling within it gradually walked closer to Billie, as it did it slowly began forming the body of the Sterling everyone grew familiar with.

“I’ll need your scythe.” She extended her had toward Billie with a genuine smile. “Don’t worry you’ll get it back. Eh, could you also make it a bit smaller for me? Like a knife?”

Billie materialized her scythe at its full size and height before placing it in front of her, but before she made any motion to comply, she turned her head toward Sterling with a slightly angry expression. “Just tell me why. Why do you need it?” Sterling sighed and realized she wasn’t going to get away with her usual _you’ll see_ tactics. Something flashed in Billie’s eyes and she shook all over nearly dropping her scythe. “No. But…”

“Ah, uh-huh. Don’t go spoiling it now. Your scythe please.” She shook her arm and hand once more giving no sign of budging any further. Billie, still in shock, did as asked and formed the scythe into a small dagger, and tenderly placed it into Sterling’s hand. “But you’ll…”

“AH! No spoilers! Now, get in that room and do your part, I’m going to do mine.” Sterling ordered.

“I’ll be here, should you need me.” Billie mumbled as a single tear fell from her eye. She reappeared in the same location she had been standing previously albeit seeming a little more downtrodden this time. Dean nearly made a motion to confront Billie but was stayed by Sam’s firm hand and gentle head shake.

“To all those here, you are to bear witness to a wrong being made right. I must ask for your patience and understanding. Each of you are here for a purpose, and when the time comes, I shall call upon you. Please don’t make me wait.” She stated, giving everyone a pleading look. She took a few steps closer toward the sphere and the room moved with her, as if tied to her by an invisible string.

“IAODIPAM!” She shouted, the sound booming making the room shake, but all those within it were not hurt by her words. They watched in curiosity as the spinning red runes flashed into a deep purple and began spinning slower. Around the edge where Sterling was standing small outlines of red circles lined the circumference beginning with where she was standing. In total there were seven circles, each one with different runes lining the outside of them. “No going back now.” She mumbled to herself as she stepped into the circle in front of her, its color also changed to purple and the runes spun around her in white. Hiding the blade behind her back with one hand she turned her eyes toward the two incapacitated beings in the center of the massive circle. “Amara, Chuck. Time to awaken.” She snapped her fingers and they both slowly returned to reality as their heads returned to their rightful positions.

“Where am… AH! You! You shoved me in a black hole!” Amara shouted shoving Chuck away from her. “Just when I thought you were going to show me how to build my own you go and do the same thing you did all those eons ago. How could you?!” She began to raise a hand to him but was stopped by him looking somewhere else entirely and not at her. “What are you…” She turned to look in the direction he was staring at and went silent once her eyes met Sterling’s.

“H-Hebat?” Tears began to flow from Amara’s eyes as she immediately raced toward her but was forced back by the spinning sphere of runes all around her. “What… what’s going on?” She sputtered as she leaned against the invisible wall between her and Sterling. “I thought I lost you. All those eons ago. I thought you’d died.” She choked back some tears, with fail, as her pleading eyes searched Sterling for an answer.

“Your brother returned me to life. It was a foolish action, but one that I’m glad he made.” Sterling smiled sadly.

“Then what’s going on? Why are we here in this… thing?” Amara asked irritably, giving a terse look at Chuck who remained where he was, looking around at the sphere encompassing them.

“My darling. Long ago I realized something, but it was too late. I was no longer capable of fixing what I had broken.” Sterling expressed with sadness.

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?” Amara asked, wiping away some tears with a shaky hand.

“You. I broke you.” She squinted and looked down in thought trying to find the right way to verbalize everything. She gave a quick glance at the hovering black box behind her with the people inside patiently waiting. “Amara, you and Chuck were never meant to be two beings.” At this Chuck stopped idly searching the sphere for a way out and joined Amara’s side.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Chuck grunted.

Sterling sighed now relieved to have both their attentions. “Long ago when I was hopping and bopping through all different multiverses and just traveling through everything and every time, I burst into your verse, albeit a bit differently than what I was used to. Upon entering this… plane I was immediately racked with pains and aches. It was as if my entire being revolted against me every moment I stayed here. But no matter how hard I tried to leave, I couldn’t. I tried traveling along the multiverse again, but I was shot back here. Then I met you two, young beings of creation that just came into life, not knowing who or what they were. So, I taught you all I knew, the basics and anything I felt was relevant with your situation. It was then as I became more and more incapable, that I realized. When I arrived into your plane, I interrupted your, _birth_ we’ll call it.” Sterling paused, gauging the looks on Amara’s and Chuck’s stunned faces. “I had only met one other being the same as myself. They and I shared something neither of you have. Chuck bares only the light side, whereas you bare only the dark. I realized you both were meant to be as one, as I am. I somehow stopped the process when I arrived, I upset the balance.” She gave a sigh of relief. “And I will now right that wrong.” She revealed her hidden hand baring the small blade in her fist. Upon seeing it Amara and Chuck gasped in realization of what she was about to do.

“What is that for? Please Sterling don’t do this!” Amara and Chuck shouted as Sterling knelt on the circle she was standing on and raised the blade over her bare arm.

“With this confession I begin the spell.” She stated flatly. She turned her arm over showing the underside, plunged the blade just below the wrist and dragged it up to the crook of her elbow. Her face showed no sign of pain as she withdrew the blade and watched her essence flow out of her. Instead of red blood, a liquid mixture of white and black poured out of her wound onto the circle below her. After a few moments of letting it flow she dropped the blade and used her now free hand to heal her arm, leaving nothing but a horrid scar in its place. The circle absorbed her essence leaving no drop unused, changing its color to a bright golden yellow. Grabbing the blade, she rose to her feet giving the black floating box behind her a glance then returning to look at Amara and Chuck. She began walking the golden path leading to the next purple circle, all while listening to Amara and Chuck pleading for her to stop.

“Seven more times. She has to do that seven more times.” Mumbled Rowena under her breath with a touch of disgust.

“It won’t kill her though… will it?” Dean asked loudly looking to Rowena and Sam for an answer.

“Hard to say. I got the gist of what she’s trying to do, but I don’t know this spell.” Rowena sighed. “Or what it entails.”

Their attention returned to Sterling who was kneeling on the second circle, the white runes dancing around her as she stared at the sphere past Amara and Chuck who were still blubbering. “Humans, and Billie.” She returned her gaze to their sad faces filled with sadness and longing. “Chuck, Amara.” She breathed out, seeming to release some tension within her. “There was something I told you both about not getting involved with your creations. Do you remember what I said?” She inquired, giving them both a look of sad remembrance.

“You said the best thing we can do for them, is to leave them alone. To not include yourself into their lives.” Amara recited, like a sobbing child reciting rules to a parent. Chuck attempted to hide behind Amara but failed to be able to stay still for too long as Sterling’s gaze met his own.

“I never told you why, did I?” She asked, still staring at Chuck who was visibly uncomfortable.

“N-no.” He stammered.

Sterling sighed breaking the gaze and looking at the blade in her hand. “Long before you, before any of this, when I created my first universe, my first plane of existence. I created beings similar to what you have created. And I did as you have clearly done, I inserted myself into their equation. This left no room for other higher forms of thinking, no differences in opinion. And even if there was, there would be massive wars, and battles to fight for what they thought I believed to be right. Even when I never asked for them. When I decided to leave them in order to distance myself, they grew worse and worse in their constant need and desire for my approval. They did anything and everything they could to bring me back, going so far to destroy themselves in the process. It didn’t matter the cost.” She raised her head to look at them both staring at her in awe, hanging on her every word.

“Then after a while, new forms of thought began growing and groups of beings that believed in it would join them, then another would pop up, then another, and another. Pretty soon there were many different… religions, we’ll call it. Rather than stomp it out I grew intrigued at the idea and divulged in their desires. But that original group would always find a way to snuff out the others, even if the means were deadly. I tried to cease this senseless stream of violence by nipping it in the bud, removing that group entirely.” Sterling paused, breathing in a gasp of air as if the thought she was forming hurt her physically.

“But once I did, it only proved to make things worse, eliminating that entire group destroyed most of the population. Then as time went on, I watched as the number of intelligent beings I had taken a fondness to, dwindle to nothing. So, I tried again. Same planet cleaned the board, except this time I left them completely alone. I let them find their own meanings in life, set their own rules and boundaries. And it worked out all the better. They spread across the stars cultivating new planets and creating new homes for themselves. And I didn’t just watch from beyond; I was up close and personal with them. I watched them write their own history, no matter how bloody, create their own art. They didn’t really believe in God or Gods, but they held a set of core values that guided them throughout the centuries.” She sighed a moment.

“In the end I was still sad about that first creation, and how it went. How I could’ve handled it better if someone had told me how it was. But I had to find out on my own, something you had to go through as well Chuck. Only you did so without your other half, the other part of you.” Grasping the blade in her uncut arm she raised it above the same point in her wrist as the previous cut.

“Sterling, please. There has to be another way. I can’t watch you do this to yourself!” Chuck shouted as tears fell from his eyes.

Sterling only paused a moment, gave him a sad smile, then plunged the blade into her wrist and cut along the same cut from before. Only her movement wasn’t as swift and she trembled as she pulled it out of her arm, letting the swirling liquid pour from her wounds again. After a few moments she tossed the blade to the next circle, using her now free hand to heal the wound closed, forming another ugly scar directly next to the first. She sat a few moments before looking up at Amara and Chuck.

“I only hope, rather than destroying what you’ve already created, I hope you find another solution. One I couldn’t come up with.” She panted. Slowly, using her good arm she pushed herself to her feet and walked along the golden path to the next circle.

As soon as she stepped into the circle the white runes danced around her, but in a slower pattern. She looked down at the blade still resting next to her feet, waiting. As she knelt down to pick it up, she could hear some talking coming from the black box still floating behind her. “Something to say?” she called as she got on her knees and sat on the back of her heels, giving only a side glance to the black box.

“N-nothing.” Came a squeaky voice that Sterling guessed came from Jack.

“Don’t worry, all your questions will be answered. Just be patient. I have plenty more of these things to go.” She sighed. “This one is one of the easy ones.” She mumbled, causing the peanut gallery to cease their chattering.

Again, she raised the blade, and again she plunged it into the same location only this time deeper than the last two. She stifled a small groan biting her lip as she began gouging out a deeper canal in her arm causing Amara and Chuck to shout in horror and attempt to look away. Once the blade reached its destination, she immediately dropped it, letting it fall beside her in the circle. As her essence surged from her arm, she dug two fingers into the middle of her wound causing more to flow out. She could not contain her cry of pain this time as she held her fingers in place long enough for Chuck to shout at her to stop.

Once the circle illuminated the same glowing gold color, she immediately removed her fingers, causing her to cry out then shakily heal her arm. The scar this wound left dwarfed the others considerably, and somehow made her arm look emaciated and stained a deep shade of purple. She sat in the circle for a few moments taking deep breaths her heavily scarred arm dangling beside her, near lifeless. She leaned forward on her good arm, grabbing the blade as she did, and slowly and shakily got her feet on the surface. Inhaling a deep breath, she slowly raised her upper half wincing as she moved and slowly staggered to the next purple circle. Chuck had begun pacing inside the sphere, as Sterling stared at him from the newest circle, white runes dancing around her, she dared. “Chuck?” She swallowed knowing full well just what was likely going through his head.

“HOW WAS THAT EASY?! I won’t stand for this! This is ridiculous! I can’t stand here and watch you bleed out and suffer! How are you ok with this?” His anger was then directed to Amara who was kneeling on the surface, watching sadly as Sterling did these things in front of her. She turned her tear ridden face toward Chuck, making him fume even more. She slowly stood up, towering over him with her black mass emanating from her, making her seem larger in comparison.

“What makes you think I’m ok with ANY of this!? I haven’t seen her in millennia and you, you selfish bastard, brought her back! And for what? So she could help you deal with your avoidance of Death? Now look at what is going on! She’s killing herself, so she can fix us! What part of this don’t you understand?” Amara shouted in his face.

“I get that! I understand what’s going on really I do! But I’m not going to stand here any longer and let her continue with this!” Chuck shouted back.

“So what are you going to do?” Amara asked sarcastically, “Break out? Look at her she’s…”

Amara was interrupted by the sight of Sterling facing away from the sphere toward the massive universe below them, holding her arms out directly toward it. “What is she doing?” Asked Chuck hurriedly.

“A long time ago when I was attempting to teach you two creation, I allowed you both to use this as your proverbial playing ground. Where you could test your ideas, and fiddle with elements and atoms and stuff like that. Since I helped create it, I therefore can choose to use it in my own way. And don’t worry Sam, there’s no living sentient lifeforms in there… it’s mostly just burning balls of gas and a few dead odd planets here and there.” Sterling grunted loudly as the universe began funneling into her. Starting from the top of the domed shape emerged a snaking river of light and color that moved swiftly to and into her, causing her to gasp in either shock or pain no one but her could tell. Her face in a grimace and teeth bared she focused the stream down her good arm, letting the damaged one aid in the filtering. Before long half of the mega universe was gone and absorbed into the purple circle. Without warning she halted the feed dropping to her knees panting showing signs of being in an enormous amount of pain.

“Isn’t there anything we can do?!” Alex asked loudly.

“Y-you… you’ve… done………enough. Is….my……..turn.” Sterling panted with her head hung toward her chest, her breathing weakening with each word. Alex moved toward the glass to say something but halted when Sterling shakily raised her heavily scarred hand. No words were passed between them through speech or minds but, Alex understood. With new tears threatening to fall again she backed to her chair, never breaking eye-contact with the kneeling Sterling.

“Is there anything you need me, to do?” Billie asked slowly, making sure her words were heard clearly through the panting.

“I’m….” Sterling finally raised her head to look at Billie, her face revealing her tiredness and pain. “I…. can’t...... that……. Room.”

“I can take it from here.” Billie assured.

“P-promise…. that…”

“I won’t do anything to them. I give you my word. I keep my word.” Billie gave a slight glare to Sam, Dean, and Castiel who looked at her with just as much malice. She returned her eyes to the faintly smiling Sterling.

“Thank… you.”

She lowered her head again and Billie closed her eyes to focus as well, within a flutter an eyelid Sterling sighed and started breathing easier and Billie looked to be under just a bit more pressure than she may have initially intended.

“How did you…?”

“Come on… magician… never reveals…. their secrets.” Sterling gave a slight wink to the humans in the room which didn’t make them feel anymore comfortable than they already were. She wobblingly returned to her feet, grunting and groaning as she moved, but she seemed to be moving easier now. Once more she extended her arms out and resumed the process of filtering the mega universe, this time it seemed to be moving much quicker, but her pained expression didn’t change. After what felt like years, but was merely moments, the last portion of the mega universe passed through her and into the purple circle below. But the color didn’t change to the glowing golden color like the previous ones.

“No, even this one?!” Amara pleaded, “That wasn’t enough?!”

Sterling, her face pale and still in pain, seemed she didn’t hear her cries and slowly knelt down on her knees.

“Sterling?! Please?!” Chuck called.

In the same arm she raised the blade, plunged, pulled and drained herself once more. Only this time she seemed to be in a daze, not feeling the pain of the blade piercing through her celestial body and draining her core. After a few moments the circle finally turned its familiar glowing gold, only Sterling was making no move to heal herself. Chuck in a fit of anger and worry lunged himself into the side of the spinning sphere, causing no damage to the runes he ran into, but it seemed to stir Sterling who took in a large gasp of air and healed herself, showing no expression. She sat there, on her heels with her legs tucked under her swaying slightly as she lightly tossed the blade to the next circle, barely making it to its destination. Gradually and unsteadily she got her feet under her and shuffled to the next circle and stood there gazing at the now void area where her mega universe used to be. All that remained were lights from distant stars, galaxies, and universes. She chuckled to herself before turning slowly toward the next circle and shuffling her way to it. “It was a bit bigger than I remember, you add a few things?” She gave a sly eye to Chuck and Amara who had to clean their face to give her a straight answer.

“W-we did. More than a few.” Amara stuttered.

“Please tell me by the end of this…” Chuck whimpered.

“Shhh….” Sterling interrupted softly, “be strong now. Soon you’ll be stronger. Just bear it for a little longer. We’re halfway there.” She pointed with her lazy good hand to the remaining purple circles, only three remained. As she stood in the center of the newest purple circle she glanced back at the humans and the somewhat frustrated looking Billie. “I have to apologize to you all. You see, I lied. I didn’t end the existence of the Leviathans, I simply… moved them. I couldn’t…”

“So, you’re using them for this? As live energy?” Sam questioned, his anger slightly building. He restrained himself with the thought that there had to be more to it than that.

“When I met with MIC- excuse me, Dick Roman. The head of their kind, I asked. I asked all of them, if I could use them this way. I wished they said no. I gave them a different option, several actually. But he, as well as they, chose this. You remember his answer?” the words as she spoke were filled with sorrow and patience, as if each word enacted pain on her tongue to even mutter them.

Sam paused, thinking about the past events and trying to remember what had happened eight months ago. Once it all played out in his head enough that he could picture it exactly as it happened and the words that were said. His eyes lit up, and his brow furrowed of contemplation broke into realization. “He said, yes.”

Groaning as she slowly knelt down, she grunted out, “I would never. Never. Ask this of anyone, or anything, without giving another option. They chose this, and I can’t break their trust now.” Once she was in a semi comfortable position she looked down at her ruined arm, how mangled and scrawny it looked now as it dangled to her side, lifeless. “Not now.” She murmured to herself softly. Gently she grasped the wrist and hand of her poor arm and pressed the palm onto the surface of the circle. Closing her eyes, she focused on something within her. Soon her body glowed golden as it seemed to seep out of her hand and into the circle below, the golden color draining from her, beginning at the bottom of her feet until it had left her body completely through her hand. Once the last portion of golden light fled her form she shook where she sat, as if a cold chill had coursed through her body. Panting she looked at the blade laying by her lap in an awkward angle, reaching to grasp it she heard a loud roar coming from the sphere in front of her. Looking up she found Chuck, his light essence flowing strongly from him, pushing against the sphere he was ensnared in.

“I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!” He roared as he pushed his light as hard and strong as he could, ignoring the cries from Amara. “I WON’T WATCH YOU DO THIS ANY LONGER!” He expanded his light to fill every empty space he could, sparing room for Amara. Roaring as he did so everyone in the black box was on their feet at the window, some were cheering him on, others were telling him to stop, Rowena being one of them. Sam hearing her cries turned to her.

“What do you mean? If he can stop this, we can find another way!”

“You don’t understand… Look at HER!” She shouted, mashing a finger on the glass toward Sterling who was still on her knees, only now hunched over in pain. Her dead arm laying limply on her side, but her forehead was pressed hard on the smooth surface as she screamed along with him. By this point everyone took notice and turned to Rowena for answers but before she could enlighten them, Amara was loudly fighting against Chuck inside the shaking sphere. The runes were a mixture of purple and red, flashing in and out as the swirling of black and white fought against each other. After a few moments, the smoke of either party cleared revealing Amara holding Chuck in a rough chokehold, both were pretty beaten up and looking a little worse for wear. She twisted and contorted his position so he could get a better look at the still hunched Sterling. Her loud panting replacing the screaming she had ceased the moment Chuck stopped trying to force his way out.

“LOOK at HER! Look at what YOU’VE done TO her! How can you not see what you’re doing is only making it harder FOR her?” Amara’s voice rang through everyone down to their core, making them back away as if they were being reprimanded by their own mother. “You’re killing her! We don’t know what will happen when she completes this, but I’m NOT about to let you harm her more by acting like a selfish baby.” She released her hold on him, dropping him to his knees on the bottom of the sphere.

Giving Amara a cold stare he coughed slightly and rubbed his sore knees and parts where she had landed pretty heavy blows. He glanced at the still hunched Sterling and paused from his smartening. “Sterling?”

“s… minute.” Came a light mumble.

“Sterling I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I…”

“t’s… fine.”

“It’s not fine, I didn’t mean to…” his eyes widened as he finally took notice of the freshly cut wound in her good arm. “NO! How did you…?”

She raised herself slowly fully revealing her ‘good’ arm with a long horrid gash in the same manner as her previous arm. The blade laid next to her limp one giving the hint that she had managed to use it even with her bad arm. Her eyes were slightly glazed over as she looked from both Chuck to Amara, then to the humans. If she meant to send anything telepathically, it didn’t go through. Once the circle turned gleaming gold, she swiveled her head back to face the sphere into the sad face of Chuck. She could feel the guilt pouring off of him, she wanted to console him, tell him it was alright, that she had expected at least one of them to lash out. But she couldn’t form the words correctly. After contemplating speech, she lazily healed herself and gripped the blade in her ‘good’ hand as she remained still for a few moments. Her eyelids opened and closed slowly a few times before she took in a deep inhale and moved to get up. Only rather than getting to her feet, she fell sideways, having to catch herself with her badly damaged arm. It buckled under the weight causing her to cry out and collapse to the surface. A universal gasp could be heard from everyone as they watched her fall and remain on her side for what felt like ages before she finally crawled her way to the next circle. Whereupon reaching it she didn’t even bother to get into a kneeling position, as she resorted to merely laying on her side facing the sphere. Sniffles and coughs could be heard from the black box hovering above her, she couldn’t find it in her to raise her head to look, but she surmised she could tell who they were.

A slight chuckle built up in her chest until it was at least somewhat vocal enough to be heard. “At least… this one… is easy.”

Chuck sat at the other end of the sphere with his back toward her, his face in his hands as he sobbed. Amara couldn’t find it in her to even look Sterling in the eye as she remained by her side but was focusing on not falling apart in fear that Chuck could start up again.

Between the sniffling, light sobbing, and coughs that echoed around everyone. It all quieted as they could hear and see her slowly moving her ruined arm, blade in hand to her other arm. Once more she plunged, dragged, and bled her being into the circle beneath her. The swirling flow, understandably, was less than the previous cuts she had made. Yet she made no motion to speed it along or to slow it down, she remained still with her eyes shut as if she was asleep. Once the circle finally turned its luminous gold, Sterling’s eyes shot open and she sealed the wound, though not completely, leaving a good portion of the cut open as she gripped the blade and began shuffling her body toward the next circle.

“Sterling… your arm…” Amara spluttered.

Sterling gave no sign of having heard her as she continued dragging herself, leaving a small trail behind as she moved. Once she felt she had a sufficient amount of her body on the circle she collapsed, this time laying on her back to look upward. “Now… for one of… the hardest ones.” She gasped.

“What do you mean?” Amara prodded, failing at her attempt to wipe away the tears still streaming down her face, as she gave Sterling a desperate look.

“Billie… come here.” Sterling tilted her head toward the black box that was now floating closer to her and at a lower height so she could see eye to eye with everyone in the room. The few that were standing were scattered around the room, each still facing the glass and seeming to be lost in thought. Sam and Dean were standing close to the glass with Dean mostly pacing in a small square he designated for himself. Sam was leaning on the glass with a hand wiping away any residue from his face. Jack and Castiel were quietly talking to each other, it was mostly about what Jack could, or could not do to stop this. The end result was always the same, it was too risky to try. Donna, Jody, Claire, and Alex were all grouped together sitting in chairs that had moved closer to the glass. All were holding each other’s hand in support and giving out as many tissues as Donna could supply. Upon closer inspection of the room, Sterling noticed a few broken chairs, likely out of someone’s frustration. The glass had more than a few hand and fist marks faintly shining in the dark, although there were no cracks it was a testament to how focused Billie had to be in order to keep the room intact. She was still focusing hard on keeping the room working and those within from dying, but she stepped closer to the glass to better face Sterling.

Sterling sighed deeply, fluttered her eyes open and closed a few times, then looked Billie directly into her eyes. “What were you hoping… to gain with that spell?”

Billie visibly straightened and cleared her throat. “I was trying to put Chuck in the Empty. As long as he was there, I could deal with the mess he had made, then deal with him as I pleased.”

“Why the Empty?” Sterling breathed. “You know it doesn’t work… the same with him as it would… with other beings.”

“True, but I was going to…”

“So, what would have… stopped him from breaking out?” Sterling interrupted haphazardly. “Castiel, and even Jack… didn’t remain in the Empty. Lucifer nearly got… himself out as well.” She paused a moment to catch her breath. Billie didn’t dare say anything, knowing in some manner she was right. Although the plan would have worked, it wouldn’t have lasted for very long. Not to mention she wasn’t exactly sure what would happen once he was in there. “Suffice it to say, it wasn’t as thought out… as you had initially intended… or was there another way?”

“His death.” Billie stated flatly. She said this so nonchalantly and with no malice in her tone, but she prepared herself for any anger or disappointed words to be thrown in her direction no matter how hushed they would be. Instead she was met with a light chuckle that turned into a coughing laugh, spooking nearly everyone in the process. Billie, brow furrowed in confusion looked on Sterling as she laid on the last purple circle lightly laughing at what should have been a more serious moment. “What’s so funny?”

Sterling slowed her laughing and coughed to ease her breathing back into a somewhat normal rhythm. Her eyes rolled in her head and she slurred a menagerie of words as she tried to steady herself from the dizzying effect laughter had on her weakened form. “I can’t say… that wouldn’t have worked… but, what would… happen to everything else? To Amara? To those beings?” She softly nodded her head toward the humans who were watching intently on the unfolding conversation. “Do you know? Cuz, I don’t.” She sighed at the confused look on Billie’s face who was deep in thought. “I was never against your plans… against what you thought was the right choice. … I know what you were planning… was to help all of creation. To end this… self-indulgence. This manipulation.” She turned her head back to the rune spinning sphere, where Chuck was still on the opposite end, but was now faced toward her. Sterling sighed, “Free will once given… is not so easily taken away. Remember?” she smiled tiredly. Chuck slowly raised himself, shuffled his way toward her, then collapsed on his knees in front of her as tears fell from his eyes. He leaned heavily on the invisible wall keeping him entrapped within, but to him there was no barrier as he looked fondly at Sterling.

“Please, could you ever forgive me?” he choked out.

“It was forgiven… long ago.” Sterling smiled faintly.

He turned to Amara who was still sitting before Sterling, watching with sadness as her only mother, father figure lay slowly dying before her. Chuck grasped both her shoulders to gather her attention, “Amara, I’m so sorry. For everything. I didn’t mean…” He didn’t get to finish as Amara pulled him into a warm embrace. She knew in her heart that he never meant any harm by anything he had done to her, and he didn’t know how else to express his feelings. While she couldn’t forgive him for some things, in this moment, at this junction of time, in front of a being they both held dear, she chose forgiveness.

“I forgive you.” She sniffled. They both held their embrace for a while, letting each other’s pain and sadness be shared, rather than suffer alone. They broke the embrace as Sterling was again facing the floating black box.

“And here… I must ask the impossible.” She sighed loudly closing and opening her eyes slowly giving everyone in the room a moment for her eyes to fall on them. Dean actively tried to avoid her eyes but found it difficult when his brother kept pulling him back to face her. All the girls stood and held hands as they stepped closer to the glass, each wearing a different face of sadness and confusion. Jack and Castiel stood as well but remained behind Sam and Dean, subconsciously hiding from whatever was about to happen next.

“You creations of which I hold… as dear to me as the two behind me. You beings who are here as witnesses… and as one of the final tasks. It is here I must ask you…” She coughed lightly. “Can you find it in your hearts… to forgive me?”

“What do you mean _forgive you_? You’re not the one who created us or used us as pawns in their own little game.” Dean’s anger was palpable as he couldn’t understand the reason why she needed their forgiveness.

“True… I did not. But as I said… when we began this spell, I was the one… who interrupted their _birth_, essentially breaking them… and making them something… they weren’t meant to be.”

“So, you’re saying if you hadn’t come here, none of this would have happened?” Sam summarized.

“Yes.”

“Chuck wouldn’t have treated us like little characters in his story. Our whole lives…” Dean spun on his heels to face the opposite direction. He didn’t like this, this broken being who had been helping them, or trying to, was the fault behind everything that was wrong. Did that mean his existence was one of those faults? He didn’t like this train of thought that this opened up and Sam could tell Dean was starting to get lost in himself as he gripped one of his shoulders tightly. “Dean, wait. Let’s think about this.”

“Talk amongst yourselves… I cannot make this decision. And others cannot make it for you. I’ll be here… when you’re ready.” Sterling gave a light wave at them, Billie took the que and darkened the glass to separate them from the scene from outside the room.

“You know what I already think. Screw them. I can’t forgive them for what they’ve done to everything.” Dean gestured grandly at everything, if there was such a gesture.

“It’s not them we have to forgive. It’s her.” Chloe sighed.

“I’m afraid we all have it wrong.” Rowena started. “It’s not just them, or just her. It’s all of em. We must forgive all three of them.”

“Well I can’t. Not after all that Sam and I went through. Not to mention Cas and Jack who was killed by Chuck not to long ago, might I add.” Dean shouted angrily. “And then, Oh! And then! He had the audacity to turn everything back, like all that we did meant nothing. All those monsters we put away! All that pain and suffering, and for what?” He finished his shouting as Castiel was trying to hold him back from forcibly making Rowena see his side of things. She could do nothing but patiently wait to let him finish. So many years of pain and hurt were dripping from him, all the barriers that he held up for so many years to keep all those painful memories were crumbling down. Tears were freely falling from his eyes as he shook himself free from Castiel’s grasp. “I just can’t.”

“I can.” Jack announced, seeming unphased by Dean’s tirade.

“Jack.” Sam waved his hand to signal that now was not the time, but it was lost on him as Jack stood firm in his decision.

“She said this was the way to fix them, right?” Jack looked to Rowena for backup, she reluctantly stepped forward and acknowledged his question.

“Yes, she did. But what does that mean for us?” She asked aloud, giving a side eye to Billie who remained in her corner.

“You’ll get nothing from me. Even I don’t know what’s going to happen next.” Billie sighed. This whole ordeal was taking quite a toll on her, she was silently wondering to herself just how long she can be away from her duties. She needed a vacation.

“Well, she has been dead. And it seems the moment she was brought back she has been trying to fix all this.” Rowena sighed; she wasn’t one for convincing when she herself was having a hard time.

“And how does doing what she’s doing fixing any of it?” Sam queried.

“I guess we’ll find out when it’s over.” Alex announced. Her frustration was written on her face as she had been listening to nearly everyone give their own take on what was happening. “Don’t you get it? All this happened BECAUSE they were meant to be ONE. NONE of this would’ve happened and we’d all be living different lives. She’s giving US the chance to fix this! And all of you are so hung up on the past it’s blinding you from your future.”

Outside under the guise of being asleep, Sterling gave a proud smirk.

“It doesn’t matter what happens to us, so long as everything is made right.” She cried in frustration. “Didn’t we say that once? Or did you forget? Because I didn’t.” Alex sniffed as she sat forcefully in a chair behind her. The room remained silent for a few moments, letting her words sink in. Then Jack walked himself to the front of the group toward the still slate black glass.

“I will.” He announced. Alex and Chloe joined him quickly on either side. “We will too.”

Jody and Donna sighed loudly then took their place behind them. “Us too, I guess.” Jody muttered sassily. She eyed the boys and started to give Sam and Dean daggers before Sam finally moved to grab his brother by the shoulder. “Maybe this is it.”

“How can this be it? Are we all going to be sacrificed with her, like the Leviathans?” Dean mumbled so only Sam could hear.

“Does she seem like the type to pull that? Tell me, cuz I haven’t seen her do anything but selfless acts.” Sam looked deep into Deans eyes, using his puppy dog eyes to their fullest ability. Dean sighed and frowned a bit. “Come on, quit it with those. Damn it… fine.” Dean caved and they both joined in the group, though once they turned around they found everyone was patiently waiting on them. Sam gave a nod to Billie who used a limp gesture to turn the black glass clear. At once they were thrust back into the mess that lay in front of them, Chuck and Amara were holding hands and kneeling as close to the body of Sterling as they possibly could. Sterling was still laying in the same position they had last seen her, but her eyes were shut as she seemed to be asleep.

“So, has a decision been made?” she muttered out, her voice cracking as she spoke. She opened her eyes to find everyone huddled together in front of the glass, giving her eyes of determination. Sam was the first to speak. “Yes… we…”

“Wait.” Sterling interrupted him with a sad wave of her hand as she rotated herself into a position to better make use of both arms. With her back toward them she gripped the blade with her blacked arm, this elicited slight gasps and groans of pain from Chuck and Amara. None of the humans needed to see that she was readying herself for the next cut. She raised her head slightly giving a quick glance to the room, before giving up the fight against her body and letting her head rest on the circle.

“Can you, beloved creations… of my beloved creators… forgive me?” She waited, hand with blade poised to break skin once more on her arm. Her breath ragged as she forced her strength to last until someone, anyone uttered the words she needed to hear.

“We forgive you.”

She gasped, not as the blade dug into her being, not as she shakily pulled it past a leaking wound, and certainly not as she dropped the blade once the cut had been made. She gasped as she realized who was the one to utter the words, his voice gruff and full of pain and still slightly confused. Dean shed a few more tears as he watched her bleed herself again, for them, every time she bled was for them. He remembered the few months he got to vaguely know her, and he began to wish they had more time to simply chat.

She laid there bleeding for what felt like forever as no one looked away or turned their attention elsewhere. Everyone waited with bated breath for the circle to turn gold, to end this suffering. Once it finally did, Sam and Dean were already shouting for Sterling to heal herself, but no matter how loud they shouted she didn’t budge. They couldn’t tell she was even still alive save for the faint rising and falling of her chest. Chuck and Amara scooted closer to her head to get a closer look at her face. Sterling’s eyelids were barely open, and her mouth was agape.

“STERLING!” Chuck shouted as loud as he could. It seemed to shake her a bit as her eyes opened more and she looked around in slight confusion. Once she was awake, she swiveled her head to look around at the now fully golden circle. She wanted to say something smart and witty about this, but she found no strength in herself to utter a single word. Admitting defeat, she looked to the next circle with lazily tired eyes. Leaving the fresh wound open she began slowly dragging herself to it, its golden glow calling to her.

“Wait, wait! She did them all!” Dean shouted.

“It’s with any spell or ritual. Where it began, so shall it end.” Rowena sniffled.

Dean filled with rage, slumped down in front of the glass as he began crying. In frustration, in pain, in empathy? Even he couldn’t tell anymore. Sam joined him and gave him a loving embrace as they watched Sterling slowly and weakly crawl to the center of the circle. The first circle where she made the first cut, bled the first drops, and began this whole ordeal. Once the majority of her being was on it she collapsed on her chest with her arms on either side of her, the blade still being held by her blackened arm. She breathed in broken gasps, trying to steady her breathing. She closed her eyes to better focus but found it rather difficult when she felt everything was spinning. She raised her arms over her head and realized the fresh wound she made was still bleeding out. She sighed, then lightly chuckled to herself. She turned her head to face Billie who was floating the room as close to her as possible.

“Was… much… shit..show… this?” Sterling huffed out.

“I think this one takes the cake.” Billie half chuckled, biting her own lip to hold back the tears threatening to fall.

Sterling huffed and returned her head to face Chuck and Amara. She knew she had to get this out quickly, she had no strength left to heal or much less talk. Her strength was depleting quicker with every breath. She tried to say something to Chuck and Amara who were waiting for her to say or do anything.

“’m… sorry…” Sterling whispered.

“Don’t be sorry, we don’t blame you. We never could.” Amara sniffled.

Sterling swallowed hard, closing her eyes and opening them to fall on Chuck and Amara, as she slowly whispered, “Can… you… forgive… me?”

Amara and Chuck let out a heavy sigh, letting the tears that built up fall as they looked on the broken body of their mother, their father, their mentor. They looked at each other with a knowing look then back to Sterling. “We forgive you.” They said in unison.

Sterling smiled with a sigh of relief as she gripped the dagger once more, but instead of going for her arm they watched as she turned herself just enough to push the blade into her chest, through her very core. Chuck and Amara roared in sorrow as they watched her body fall limp. Amara forgetting the barrier attempted to reach out to her but was snapped back. Chuck crouched closer to her face. “AMARA!” he shouted waving at her to come closer. Amara scooted closer to him until they were as close to her face as possible.

“...ember… I… love… you… always…”

With her last word her body broke into a small mass of swirling black and white that slowly seeped into the golden circle beneath. As they all watched it disappear it suddenly turned bright white, then one by one all the circles, in the order she went, all turned white as well. The slowly spinning purple runes on the sphere began to spin faster. Chuck and Amara still reeling from their loss didn’t notice the rapidly spinning runes until they were glowing gold and creating an almost solid barrier. They looked out at the black box with everyone still inside it as they watched in confusion. As the runes spun faster and faster, they could no longer see the black box, or even the distant stars around them.

In the black box, everyone watched as the golden sphere turned bright white, brighter than the circles around its’ base. Then the circles began orbiting around it as well, slowly rising as they spun until it was at the center of the sphere. Then without warning a burst of light and energy expanded from the sphere, reaching out past the black box, seeming to extend to all corners of the universes. The shock shook the room so violently that everyone was sent to their hands and knees to steady themselves, a glance at Billie showed her in complete shock while trying to maintain control.

“What’s going on?” Sam called out to Billie, she didn’t acknowledge him seeming to be lost in whatever force she was battling against. Once the shaking receded, they returned their attention to the now perfectly white sphere, all the circles that had been encompassing it were now gone. In a blink it suddenly shrunk in on itself to half its size, then it began floating closer to the black box. In worry Billie began moving the room away from it as fast as possible, fearing the worst. It seemed to take notice and ceased its forward movement, content to stay in one place. Billie stepped closer to the glass with heightened curiosity. Slowly the sphere began opening, like a giant egg with a slit in its side. Once the slit reached from the bottom to the top it widened slowly, the blinding light from within was enough to make even Billie avert her eyes. Once the light dimmed itself to a reasonable level, everyone was met with a being floating in the vastness of space, it bared roughly the same shape as a human. Instead of skin, or anything to signify it was indeed human, it seemed to be entirely made up of black and white, swirling around within itself.

“S-Sterling?” Chloe whispered, confused with the current situation.

The being took notice of the voice and the person who uttered it as it turned its head in her direction. It then looked down at itself, the swirls of light and dark emanating from its’ body, then looked back at Chloe. Slowly dark tan human skin formed, then long sleek black hair that dangled past their buttocks. The face slowly took form, as it formed it seemed to shift between a feminine or masculine face, settling on one that left the deciding up to whomever was viewing them. They formed themselves without any clothes, leaving their nether regions bare. It seemed to take notice that this was a bit awkward for those in front of it and decided to cover themselves with a white cloth. Once it seemed pleased with its’ outward appearance it stepped closer to the glass but leaving enough room to not spook everyone within.

“I’m afraid Sterling is no longer with us.” It uttered with sadness seeping into their words. “But with her sacrifice she has made us whole.”

“So, you remember everything?” Sam asked, trying not to fear what was in front of him and failing.

“Yes, everything and more. And we believe it is time to return you all home. With some minor adjustments.” They said as they raised their arm to snap their fingers.

“B-but wait what about…” Dean started, but never got to finish.

All the humans within the room vanished leaving only Billie who was still stunned enough to forget to disappear the black box. “So, what do I call you now? Not Chuck, not Amara.”

“New body, new me. Call me whatever you like.” They smiled smugly, pulling a trick from Sterling’s book. “Ah, Chuck did want me to relay something to you before we melded.”

“And what would that be?”

“Bet you didn’t see this coming.” They winked haughtily before disappearing themselves into the vastness of space. Leaving Billie alone in the room, floating listlessly.

“No, I did not.” She sighed. “Not at all.” She chuckled. Her chuckle gave in to loud raucous laughter then slowly devolved into sobbing as the realization of what had happened hit her. Her scythe materialized in her hand, still in the form of the dagger she gave to Sterling. She raised the blade to inspect it before dropping her arm to stare out at the area where Sterling had taken her final breath. “You knew. You crazy bitch.”

They jolted into being in the center of the war room, bereft of anyone other than themselves. Sam and Dean began calling out people’s names, in vain, as they found there was no one else in the Bunker than them. Jody and the girls decided it was best to sit and reflect on what just happened, realizing it was not a dream. The Bunker didn’t give off the look like a central hub of monster and demonic information. Instead it appeared as it did before Sterling went under for those long eight months. Dean pulled his phone out of his back pocket and chuckled slightly as he displayed it to everyone. After feeling slight giddiness, he started filtering through the names on his phone, checking each one that he kept. He started to notice a few that he remembered taking off, mostly because they were dead the last time he saw them. The people from the parallel Earth were gone as well.

“Hey, I don’t have Bobby’s number. Do you?” Dean looked to Sam who was doing the same as him.

“I got nothing; well I mean I have a lot. Most of whom shouldn’t even be around anymore. But no Bobby. No one from Apocalypse world.” Sam took a moment to look around the Bunker again and began to notice a glaring issue. “Um, anyone seen Jack?”

Dean pried his eyes from his phone in shock and searched as well. “And Cas? Where’s Cas?”

The girls popped out of their chairs and began searching the Bunker with the boys, looking high and low for any sign or trace of them. Suddenly a loud metal bang rang out from the war room where the front door resided. They all hurried to meet a slightly stunned Castiel carrying a bright blue baby cradle. As he lumbered down the steps with the cradle in tow he looked out at everyone gathered.

“What the hell happened to you Cas?” Dean called out. “And why are you carrying that thing around?”

“Well, I um…” He set the cradle down on the table allowing everyone to take a gander at the sleeping baby inside. “I’m not so sure myself. All I can remember is someone saying, “You don’t need to worry anymore.” And I was standing outside the Bunker with a baby cradle and… him.”

“Well, who is he?” Dean asked, taking short glances at the girls fawning over the baby.

“He’s Jack.”

Everyone stopped to turn and look at Cas.

“That’s Jack? How did…” Sam started, but was interrupted by Castiel’s hand.

“I don’t know the details, but I watched as Jack turned from Jack into… Jack.” Castiel gave grand gestures then to small to indicate the baby on the table.

“But is he still… ya know?” Dean asked with worry.

“I couldn’t tell you. I tried, but it seems. I no longer have any grace.”

“You’re not an angel anymore?” Sam questioned.

“Nope, I’m a full-bodied human. Again. Can’t say I’m relieved. This is all a bit much even for me.” Castiel sighed.

“So, do you think he’s… human?” Dean queried.

“I’m not sure… but I wouldn’t put it past…” he stopped as he tried to find a name to put on the being they were sent home by, he decided to settle on the one before he met Chuck. “…_God_, I guess? I’m still trying to grasp everything that’s happened.”

“Um guys, you may want to take a look at this.” Alex called from behind Sam’s laptop, still sitting on the table as if it was eight months ago. Everyone gathered around behind her as she pulled up multiple news outlets and different websites. She clicked on a video that featured on the news site.

_“Breaking news this morning as the weird and odd occurrences that have been happening worldwide for the past eight months have seemed to come to a complete halt. Government officials haven’t decided on the cause of the outbreak but everyone who was once a victim is alive and well, and those who were deemed “undead” have completely disappeared, leaving everyone baffled. President Vladimir Putin described it as a massive hoax, set to scare those who are weak and dumb enough to believe in such superstition. The US President has declined any comment until a deeper investigation has taken place. Back to you Greg.”_

“What the Hell? What does that mean? What about all those demons from Hell?”

“Let me do some digging.” Alex mumbled as she delved deeper into different sites.

“Boys!” Rowena called loudly from the Infirmary. Sam and Dean rushed into the room to find Rowena standing in the center with her arms outstretched on either side of her. “Notice anything odd?” She pointed to the ground. As they looked, they gasped lightly with shock at the severe lack of a giant intricate red circle that had once taken residence on the floor.

“What happened?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know. I waltzed in here to retrieve some things and when I entered…” She gestured to the ground. “Not only that. I… I tried to go home.”

“What do you mean?” Dean asked with confusion.

“Teleport, she tried to teleport home. What do you mean? You’ve never had a problem before.” Sam interjected.

“I just can’t. It’s like… I can’t describe it.” She placed a shaky hand on her forehead as she began pacing in a tight square. Sam and Dean watched her in silence for a minute before Dean took a deep breath. “Do a spell.”

“What do you mean “do a spell”?”

“Exactly what I mean, work eh…” he looked around the room then grabbed a nearby scalpel that lay wrapped hygienically in its plastic. He unwrapped it, grasped it firmly then gently sliced a small cut on his forearm. “Work a healing spell on this.” He gestured to his now bleeding cut, tossing the used blade in a nearby trashcan. Rowena straightened herself before reaching out her hands to hover over his arm as she mentally chanted the words needed to heal. Seeing that nothing was happening she took to speaking the words aloud, then shouting them before giving up entirely. Sam and Dean looked at each other with shock, then at Rowena who was pacing again but with anger.

“What does this mean?” Dean asked while he looked for some super glue to close his still bleeding wound.

“It means…” She started with a shout, then with a calming breath she continued. “It means, magic no longer exists.”

“If magic doesn’t exist, what else?” Sam pondered, he rushed back into the war room to relinquish his laptop from the firm grasp of Alex who was still furiously typing and scrolling away.

When the new being sent the humans and company back to Earth, it contemplated returning them after having adjusted time and certain events to eliminate certain creatures from even being around. Thereby changing their upbringing altogether. But after considering the fact that their souls were now imprinted with the event they had witnessed, with no hope of wiping it clean, they decided to instead make a few changes to make life a bit more bearable for them. The monsters that once existed and ravaged the land were now nothing more than folktales, and stuff of legends. Ghosts were now nothing more than electrical issues made by manmade machines. And the only monsters that now existed, were of the human kind.

After more than a few hours of debating Sam, Dean, Castiel, along with baby Jack in tow drove through the night to the location of the gateway to Heaven. Where they expected to find a playground with an abnormally large sandpit near it, they instead found a Starbucks, its lights glimmering through the faint fog of the early morning. They sat silently as they stared at the deserted coffee shop, trying to find the meaning behind it. After inspecting the shop and finding nothing of interest inside or out, they grumbled their way back to the Bunker, exhausted and wishing for nothing but the comfort of a bed. Upon their return they found Jody, Donna, Chloe, and Alex had returned to their respective towns. “Being called back in for debriefing” as Donna described it over the phone. “We hated to leave with you boys still out, but Rowena needed a ride home too.”

“Hey, it’s alright. You girls take care, call us when you get there.” Dean smirked.

“You betcha. You boys take it easy ya hear?” Donna called.

“We’ll see. Talk to you later… bye.” Dean spun around as he hung up the phone to find Sam carrying baby Jack in. “Where’s Cas?”

“Said he wanted to make a phone call.” Sam replied, taking the groggy baby Jack from his carrier.

“Who the hell is he calling this late?” Dean scoffed.

“I’m not sure, hey can you get me a fresh diaper from the Infirmary? His bag is all out.”

“Already? Fine.” Dean chuckled as he made his way to the Infirmary.

Castiel stood outside in the brisk morning air, the sun still wouldn’t be up for a few more hours. He gazed up at the stars above him, remembering all that he had been through. As he stared up at the stars, he cleared his throat. “I… don’t know if you can hear me. Or if you’re even listening. But…” He paused as he contemplated which question he should ask first, but after filtering through each one nothing came close to what he was feeling at that moment. So, he resigned to one simple question with only one word.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

A quiet warm voice emanated from behind him, he spun around to see the tanned being from before. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to be a bit more descriptive than that.” Castiel stood in shock, never before in all his years of praying did it ever occur to him that maybe one day, someone might answer. Much less appear. “If you’re asking why didn’t I return you all back to the way you left it? The simple answer to that is, it’s my way of righting something. Fixing what I had previously broken. I’m not done though, Nooo, not by a long shot. But, don’t worry yourself so much Castiel. You don’t need to worry anymore.” The being patted his shoulder giving him a warm and caring smile.

“What about Heaven? And Hell?” Castiel stuttered, the words stumbling out of his lips as if he was tripping over logs while running.

The being pondered a moment, considering whether or not it should reveal more information than necessary. After seeming to think about it, it smiled warmly at Castiel and gave a light wink. “I’m taking care of it. Now…” The being released the light grip it had on Castiel and began walking away from him. “Take care of yourself, consider this your retirement.”

“What about the shadow?” Castiel didn’t feel comfortable bringing it up, but the lingering thought that the shadow being from the Empty could drag him or Jack, from Earth was something he couldn’t bear to think about.

“He only takes Angels and Demons right?” The being spun around to face Castiel with a smug smirk on their face. “What are you Castiel, if not an Angel?” The being snapped their fingers and was gone, leaving Castiel stumbling through his mind on the meaning behind those words. As he realized he stood in shock as a few faint tears dripped from his cheeks.

“I’m… I’m human. And so is Jack!” He cried. He grinned from ear to ear as he stared back up at the stars above, silently thanking the being.

After spending a few moments to gather himself he returned to the warmth of the Bunker and those he loved within it. He wasn’t sure how their lives would pan out from here, but he was content in the fact that they were all together and could live as they wanted. No secret agendas, no being puppets or toys to advance some plot along. They were well and truly their own, with their own destinies. The pain and suffering still in their pasts, but at least they had each other for support. And in the end, isn’t that what matters?

End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you who have taken the time out of their day to read this mess of a story. I thank you, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as I had in writing it.


End file.
